
Class JEJ2.< 
Book . M2A 



MAINE 

Historical Memorials 



"Out of monuments, names, words, proverbs, traditions, private 
records and evidences, fragments of stories, passages of books and the 
like, we doe save and recover somewhat from the deluge of Time." 
Lord Bacon, Advancement of Learning. 



Printed for thk State 
192 2 






LIB^Anr OF ..' .• • ^i' \ 

JAN131923 



CONTENTS. 



Four Papers by Henry S. Burrage, D. D., LL. D., State 
Historian: 

Page. 

I. A Fugitive Slave Case in Maine. . 1 

II. James Russell Lowell's Two Visits to 

Portland in 1857, . . .29 

III. James Phinney Baxter, . , .67 

IV. Franklin Simmons, Sculptor, . . 109 



Two Papers at the Centennial of the Maine Historical 
Society, April 11, 1922: 

Page. 

I. The Maine Historical Society in Bruns- 
wick, by Kenneth C. M. Sills, LL- D., 
President of Bowdoin College. . . 149 

II. The Maine Historical Society at Port- 
land, by Hon. Augustus F. Moulton, of 
Portland, . . . . .175 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



To Face Page 
Robert P. Dunlap, ..... 2 

Edward Kent, . . . . .14 

John Fairfield, ..... 22 

Mrs. James Russell Lowell, . . , .50 

Mrs. Lowell's Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery, 

London, . . . . . .62 

Memorial of John Lothrop Motley and Mrs. Motley 

in Kensal Green Cemetery, London, . . 64 

James Phinney Baxter, . . . .67 

Franklin Simmons, ..... 109 



FOREWORD. 

The preparation of the first of the papers in this volume 
had its suggestion in a remark made to the writer July 6, 
1905, when the Maine Historical Society and its many 
guests were on their way down the St. George's River 
from Thomaston to St. George's harbor in the revenue 
cutter Woodbury to celebrate the three hundredth anniver- 
sary of George Waymouth's memorable visit to the coast 
of Maine in 1605. The gentleman who made the remark 
called my attention to a house on the Gushing side of the 
river as once the home of Edward Kelleran, who, as mate 
of a Maine schooner at the time of the anti-slavery agita- 
tion preceding the Civil War, was wanted in Georgia as "a 
fugitive from justice" in a runaway slave case. What was 
said concerning the affair awakened a desire for fuller 
information. Inquiries in the office of the secretary of 
state at Augusta revealed the fact that no records of the 
case were on file there. The state librarian, Mr. Carver, 
was without any information concerning it, but, having 
kindly offered to make a search in my behalf, he was at 
length able to inform me that he had found an allusion to 
the matter in a message of one of the governors of Maine 
in the period mentioned. Following this clue I was soon 
able to find other allusions having reference to it, and at 
length obtained the fuller information I desired. From 
material thus gathered I prepared and read the paper as 

VII 



now printed, except a few pages at the close added later 
as the facts came into my possession. The tardy appear- 
ance of the paper was occasioned by an arrangement of the 
Maine Historical Society about that time, by which the 
publication of the society's "Collections" was suspended 
in order to hasten the publication of the important Baxter 
Manuscripts, which had come into the possession of the 
society. In the preparation of the paper I received cordial 
assistance from Hon. William Cobb, governor of Maine, 
and Professor J. Franklin Jameson of the Carnegie Institu- 
tion in Washington. To Hon. George A. Emery of Saco 
I was indebted for the interesting note on pages 21 and 22 
with reference to Governor Fairfield. 

In seeking sources of information with reference to Mrs. 
James Russell Lowell, I received much assistance from 
Miss Evelyn ly. Gilmore, the librarian of the Maine His- 
torical Society, and her assistant. Miss Ethel P. Hall. Mr. 
G. W. Wilder, librarian of Bowdoin College, also was 
helpful, as was Professor George H. Whittemore of Cam- 
bridge, Mass. From Mr. James Russell Lowell Dunlap 
of Portland, Oregon, a nephew of Mrs. Lowell, came the 
information I needed with reference to the Dunlap family. 
Other sources of information are indicated in the paper. 
To the Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass., I am 
indebted not only for material found in Scudder's Biogra- 
phy of James Russell Lowell, but for a copy of the fine like- 
ness of Mrs. Lowell herewith reproduced. 

The third paper was prepared by request of the Maine 
Historical Society at its annual meeting in June, 1921. A 

VIII 



notice of this appointment came to me soon after in Eng- 
land, but the writing of the paper was deferred until the 
winter following my return. The service to which I was 
called in this way was a welcome one. I had had large 
opportunities of knowing Mr. Baxter personally. We 
became members of the Maine Historical Society on the 
same day in 1878, and we were not only intimately asso- 
ciated in the work of the society in that early period, but 
in other relations, social and civic. When I first knew 
him, however, he had not only already brought his busi- 
ness activities to a close, but was ready, in the full vigor of 
life, for new activities having reference to the history and 
advancing honor of his native state, and to the improve- 
ment and adornment of the beautiful city in which he 
lived. With what high hopes and purposes he wrought, 
abundant in labors continued into a ripe old age, I have 
aimed to indicate in my narration. My thanks are due to 
Hon. Percival P. Baxter, governor of Maine, for the use 
of the fine photograph of his father from which the print, 
facing the opening page of this paper, was prepared. 

My interest in Mr. Franklin Simmons was awakened on 
seeing his marble statue of Roger Williams shortly after it 
was placed in the National Statuary Hall in the capitol at 
Washington. A little later I had the pleasure of meeting 
the sculptor in Portland, and of securing from him for 
Colby College, Waterville, a gift of the original model of 
his Roger Williams. This led to correspondence and to 
added interest in Mr. Simmons' work, especially in con- 
nection with his statue of Longfellow in Portland. After 

IX 



the sculptor's death, I was interested with Judge Symonds 
in Mr. Simmons' bequest to the city of Portland. During 
the past winter, while I was at work on the Baxter memo- 
rial, I had my first view of the collection of statuary in the 
Portland Society of Art, known as the "Franklin Simmons 
Memorial." This led to a purpose having reference to the 
preparation of a paper on Mr. Simmons for the Maine 
Historical Society. In it, as in the preceding paper, I 
received helpful assistance from the Maine Historical Soci- 
ety's librarian and her assistant. The Lewiston Journal 
placed in my hands a large collection of clippings from its 
columns relating to Mr. Simmons. Added assistance was 
received from the librarian of the Patten Free Library of 
Bath, the Lewiston Public Library, the Portland Public 
Library and the State Library. From Mr. Stuart Symonds 
of Portland I have had the valuable assistance of his 
father's correspondence with Mr. Simmons, continued 
through many years and chronologically arranged. In 
all matters relating to Mr. Simmons' gift to the city of 
Portland, and its transfer to the Portland Society of Art, I 
am indebted to Hon. Carroll S. Chaplin, mayor of Port- 
land, but the city solicitor at the time of Mr. Simmons' 
death. Because of Mr. Simmons' bequest to Portland, Mr. 
Chaplin was made one of the executors of the sculptor's 
will. Italy's connection with the World War interfered 
with the settlement of the estate. On account of the death 
of Hon. Augustine Simmons, the associate executor, the 
management of the estate devolved largely upon Mr. 
Chaplin. Notes carefully prepared by him relating to this 



valuable service in the city's behalf, both at Rome (which 
was visited by Mr. Chaplin) and after the arrival of the 
Simmons statuary in Portland, were kindly placed in my 
hands and were used in the preparation of my paper. 
Also to Mr. Chaplin I am indebted for the use of a photo- 
graph of Mr. Simmons from which the excellent likeness 
of the sculptor was secured for these pages. 

To the Marks Printing House, Portland, I am also 
greatly indebted for excellent workmanship in all the 
various details connected with such a publication. 

Kennebunkport, Maine, July 20, 1922. 



XI 



A FUGITIVE SLAVE CASE IN MAINE. 

1837-1841. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, Nov. 23, 1905. 

Early in May, 1837, the schooner Susan, Daniel 
Philbrook, of Camden, Maine, master, and Edward 
Kelleran, of Gushing, Maine, mate, was in the har- 
bor of Savannah, Georgia. During her stay at 
Savannah some repairs were made on the schooner. 
Atticus, one of the laborers engaged in this service, 
was a slave, twenty-two years of age. Evidently he 
had learned that there were no slaves in the North, 
and in the hope of improving his condition he con- 
cealed himself in the hold of the vessel before the 
Susan sailed, without disclosing his purpose to any 
of the officers and crew, so far as is known. On 
her return voyage to Maine, the vessel sailed from 
Savannah on or about May 4th. Not until several 
days afterward, when the vessel was far on her way 
northward, was the presence of Atticus made known 
or discovered. 

The owners of the slave were James and Henry 
Sagurs, of Ghatham Gounty, Georgia; and when 
the slave was missed, conjecturing that he had made 
his escape on the Susan, they hired a pilot boat and 
gave chase, hoping to overtake the schooner while 

1 



still at sea, but the hope was not fulfilled It is 
thought that the Susan arrived at Thomaston, Maine 
on the 9th or loth of May. Those who were in pur- 
suit came into the harbor at Rockland, then East 
Thomaston, a day or two later. After some diffi- 
culty and delay, Mr. James Sagurs obtained from 
ti. C. Lowell, Esq., a warrant for the arrest of 
Atticus as a fugitive slave. The officer in whose 
hands the warrant was placed failed to find Atticus 
probably not exerting himself to any great extent 
in the search, influenced by the state of feeling with 
reference to African slavery, then existing in the 
North. Mr. Sagurs offered a reward of twenty 
dollars for the apprehension of his slave and his 
delivery to his masters. For this sum two men 
under the pretense of befriending Atticus it is said' 
induced him to take refuge in Swan's barn (a barn 
on the General Knox estate in Thomaston). There 
Mr. Sagurs, on the information he had received 
obtained possession of his slave. In his removal 
the people of Thomaston placed no obstacle in the 
way of the master; but at East Thomaston, where 
the embarkation took place, there were strong dem- 
onstrations of indignation. Atticus, however was 
safely placed on board of the pilot boat in which 
Mr. Sagurs had made his way to Maine, and the 
slave was taken back to Savannah. 

But the story does not end with the return of 
the fugitive. June i6, 1837, James Sagurs went 




Robert P. Dunlap. 



before a magistrate of Chatham County and brought 
against Philbrook and Kelleran (the master and 
mate of the vessel on which Atticus had made his 
escape) a charge that on or about the 4th day of 
May, 1837, they did "feloniously inveigle, steal, take 
and carry away, without the limits of the state of 
Georgia, a negro man slave named Atticus" ; and 
Mr. Sagurs asked that a warrant should be issued 
against the said master and mate, in order that they 
might be dealt with according to the law in such 
cases provided. The magistrate responded favor- 
ably, and on the same date he issued his warrant 
for the arrest of Philbrook and Kelleran. On the 
same day, also, the magistrate was informed by the 
officer in whose hands the warrant was placed that 
Philbrook and Kelleran could not be found. 

On the 2ist of June, Hon. William Schley, gov- 
ernor of Georgia, addressed a letter to Governor 
Dunlap, of Maine, alleging that Philbrook and 
Kelleran were "fugitives from justice," and, inclos- 
ing a copy of an affidavit made by James Sagurs 
June 1 6th, before the magistrate mentioned above, 
added that in accordance with the provisions of an 
act of Congress, passed February 12, 1793, "respect- 
ing fugitives from justice," etc., he had appointed 
an agent on the part of the state of Georgia to 
receive and convey the fugitives to the county of 
Chatham in that state, "to be tried for the offense 
with which they stand charged." The letter closed 

3 



with these words: "Your Excellency will, there- 
fore, be pleased to consider this my demand, under 
said statute, for the said Daniel Philbrook and 
Edward Kelleran, and to order their arrest, if to be 
found in the state over which you preside, and cause 
them to be delivered to Mordecai Sheftall, Jun., the 
authorized agent of this state for the above purpose." 
Governor Dunlap, August i6, 1837, acknowl- 
edged the receipt of this communication, but de- 
clined to accede to the demand made upon him by 
the governor of Georgia. One of the causes of the 
proposed arrest, he said, was that Philbrook and 
Kelleran were guilty of a felony under the laws of 
Georgia. The charge, the governor continued, is 
indefinite. "In what acts the supposed felony con- 
sisted, whether they were acts aimed at the subver- 
sion of the government, or affecting the life, liberty 
or property of individual citizens, and when, where, 
or by what instrumentality committed, is not inti- 
mated." Moreover, the allegation was not sworn to 
as true. It was merely claimed in the afifidavit that 
Mr. Sagurs had been so informed and believed the 
information to be true. 

But it was also alleged that the said Philbrook 
and Kelleran, as the deponent believed, did feloni- 
ously inveigle, steal, take and carry away, without 
the limits of the state of Georgia, a negro slave. 
Governor Dunlap admitted that such an act if com- 
mitted was an offense against the laws of Georgia, 

4 



but he insisted that the allegations of the affidavit 
did not in his judgment constitute such a charge 
as would justify him in surrendering the sup- 
posed fugitives. "By the constitution of the United 
States," said Governor Dunlap, "no warrant is to 
issue, except on probable cause, supported by oath 
or affirmation, and the constitution of this state 
furnishes the same protection to its citizens. In 
the case under consideration, it is not asserted that 
there is probable cause, nor are facts or circum- 
stances presented from which probable cause can 
be inferred." 

The question whether Messrs. Philbrook and 
Kelleran could in any way be viewed as "fugitives 
from justice" within the meaning of the act of Con- 
gress cited by Governor Schley, Governor Dunlap 
did not think it necessary to consider. "So far as 
I have received any information relative to Phil- 
brook and Kelleran," he wrote, "their visit to your 
state was in the course of their ordinary business, 
as mariners. Their vessel being at the South, they 
navigated it homeward by the usual route and in 
the usual time. They had stated homes, to which 
they openly returned. At those homes they took 
up their residence, and conducted their affairs there 
without concealment, and in all respects conform- 
ably to the usages of innocent and unsuspecting 
citizens." 

September 7, 1837, Governor Schley responded 

5 



at considerable length to Governor Dunlap's letter. 
He objected to the construction placed upon the 
affidavit of Mr. Sagurs. The latter did not state 
the fact of stealing upon his belief, but insisted that 
the persons charged with being fugitives from jus- 
tice were the master and mate of the schooner 
Susan. The affidavit stated positively that "Daniel 
Philbrook and Edward Kelleran did on or about 
the 4th. day of May last, feloniously inveigle, steal, 
take and carry away, without the limits of Georgia, 
a negro man slave named Atticus." The governor 
claimed, accordingly, that the fact Governor Dunlap 
desired to have, in order to draw his own conclu- 
sions relative to the character and criminality of 
the offense committed by Daniel Philbrook and 
Edward Kelleran, had been distinctly and positively 
sworn to in the affidavit. 

Governor Schley also questioned the right of the 
governor of Maine to decide with reference to the 
sufficiency of the affidavit, the nature and extent of 
the crime, or the guilt or innocence of the persons 
charged. "These," he said, "are the province of a 
court and jury of the county of Chatham, in the 
state of Georgia" ; and he cited an act of Congress 
(second volume of the Laws of the United States, 
page 165), "that whenever the executive authority 
of any state in the Union, &c., shall demand any 
person as a fugitive from justice, of the executive 
authority of any such state or territory to which 

6 



such person shall have fled, and shall moreover pro- 
duce the copy of an indictment found or an afifidavit 
made before a magistrate of any state or territory 
as aforesaid, charging the person so demanded with 
having committed treason, felony, or other crime, 
certified as authentic by the governor or chief mag- 
istrate of the state or territory from which the per- 
son so charged fled, it shall be the duty of the 
executive authority of the state or territory to which 
such person shall have fled, to cause him or her to 
be arrested," etc. The only question which it was 
competent for Governor Dunlap to decide, there- 
fore, was, has the governor of Georgia transmitted 
the copy of an affidavit charging Daniel Philbrook 
and Edward Kelleran with "treason, felony or other 
crime" ? This, he said. Governor Dunlap had ad- 
mitted; but inasmuch as the governor had con- 
tended that "felony is a generic term embracing 
many descriptions of crime" and claimed that Mr. 
Sagurs in his affidavit should have stated "the act 
committed," Governor Schley reminded Governor 
Dunlap that in the Penal Code of the state of 
Georgia all crimes inducing penitentiary punish- 
ment come under the definition of the term "felony," 
and that the stealing of a slave subjected the offender 
to such punishment, the 20th section of the 6th 
division of the Penal Code being as follows : "The 
stealing of a slave is simple larceny, and shall be 
punished by imprisonment and hard labor in the 

7 



penitentiary for any time not less than four years, 
nor longer than ten years." 

Governor Schley closed his letter with a consid- 
eration of the affair from what he called a political 
and international point of view. The constitution 
of the United States, he said, was the result of a 
compromise between states having different, and, 
in some respects, antagonistic interests and views. 
"Subjects constituting property in one state ceased 
to be of that character when removed to other sec- 
tions of the confederacy — and acts which consti- 
tuted crimes in one state were not considered 
criminal in others. Under this state of things, no 
union, under a general government, could be formed 
until all the states agreed that the laws of each 
should be respected, and that persons charged with 
offenses against the laws of one state escaping into 
another should be delivered to the authorities of 
the offended state without inquiring into the justice 
or propriety of the laws said to be violated. In 
pursuance of this compromise, the following clause, 
the governor claimed, was inserted in the constitu- 
tion : 'A person charged in any state with treason, 
felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice 
and be found in another state, shall, on demand of 
the executive authority of the state from which he 
fled, be delivered up to be removed to the state hav- 
ing jurisdiction of the crime.' . . . Will the state 
of Maine, under such circumstances and in viola- 

8 



tion of her duty to a sister state, persist in refusing 
to obey the constitution and the law of the United 
States ?" 

At the meeting of the Legislature of Georgia 
in December, 1837, the governor of Georgia laid 
before that body his correspondence with the gov- 
ernor of Maine in reference to this case ; and the 
correspondence, with so much of the message of the 
governor of Georgia as related to it, was referred 
to a joint committee on the state of the Republic. 
The report of this committee, which was adopted 
by the House of Representatives on the 22nd of 
December, and by the Senate on the 25 th of De- 
cember, 1837, received the approval of the gover- 
nor on the same day on which action in the Senate 
was taken. The report declared the reasoning of 
Governor Dunlap, in his letter to Governor Schley, 
to be "entirely fallacious, and evasive of the true 
question at issue" ; adding that if the governor of 
Maine was not disposed to comply with the demand 
made in Governor Schley's first letter, he should 
have complied on the reception of the second letter. 
To that second letter no answer had been received. 
"Compelled, therefore, from all these circumstances 
to believe that the constituted authorities of Maine 
do not mean to comply with the laws and constitu- 
tion of the country, but in total disregard of both 
to treat with contempt the just demands of Georgia, 



all that remains for your committee to perform, is, 
to suggest the remedy." 

This the committee found a difficult task evi- 
dently. They could not close the ports of Georgia 
against the vessels of Maine, for that would be 
unconstitutional. So, also, it would be unconstitu- 
tional to declare non-intercourse with the people of 
Maine. To seize upon the persons of her citizens 
as hostages, or to levy upon their property found in 
the state of Georgia by way of reprisal, would also 
be unconstitutional. Though strongly disposed to 
recommend the passage of a law imposing a quar- 
antine upon all vessels coming from Maine into the 
waters of the state of Georgia, and "in consequence 
of viewing the doctrine of abolition as a moral and 
political pestilence, which if not checked will spread 
devastation and ruin over the land," the committee 
forbearingly refrained, and recommended the adop- 
tion of the following resolutions: 

"Be it therefore unanimously resolved by the 
Senate and House of Representatives of the state 
of Georgia in General Assembly met. That the 
refusal on the part of the governor of Maine to 
deliver up, or cause to be delivered up, upon the 
demand of the governor of this state, Daniel Phil- 
brook and Edward Kelleran, who stand charged 
with the commission of a crime against the laws of 
this state, and have fled therefrom, is not only da7i- 
gerous to the rights of the people of Georgia, but 

10 



clearly and directly in violation of the plain letter 
of the constitution of the United States, which is in 
the following words, to wit : 'A person charged in 
any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who 
shall flee from justice, and be found in another state, 
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the 
state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be 
removed to the state having jurisdiction of the 
crime.' 

"Be it further unanimously resolved. That the 
state of Georgia, and each of the other members of 
this confederacy, by the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution, became a party thereto, no less for the 
better protection of her own than the common rights 
and interests of all— 2ind v^hen these ends cease to 
be attained, by Wie faithlessness of any to the consti- 
tutional engagement, she is no longer bound by any 
obligations to the common compact ; and it then 
becomes not only her right, but her d7ity, para- 
mount to all others, to seek and provide protection 
for her own people ijt her own way, 

"And be it further unanimously resolved. That 
so soon as a bill of indictment shall be found true, 
in the Superior Court of Chatham County, against 
the said Daniel Philbrook and Edward Kelleran for 
the offense aforesaid, the executive of Georgia be 
requested to make upon the executive of Maine a 
second demand for the persons of the said fugitives, 
predicated upon said bill of indictment, and accom- 

11 



panied by such evidence as is contemplated by the 
act of Congress in such cases made and provided. 
"And be it further unanimously resolved, That 
should the executive of Maine refuse to comply 
with such second demand, the executive of Georgia 
be requested to transmit a copy of these resolutions 
to the executive of each state in the Union, to be 
presented to their several Legislatures; and also a 
copy to the president of the United States, and to 
our senators and representatives in Congress, to 
be laid before that body. And should the Legisla- 
ture of Maine, at its session next after the said 
resolutions shall have been forwarded to the execu- 
tive of that state, neglect to redress the grievance 
herein before set forth, it shall be the duty of the 
executive of Georgia to announce the same by proc- 
lamation, and call upon the people of the several 
counties, on a day in said proclamation to be named, 
to elect, under like restrictions and regulations as 
in the election of members to the Legislature, a 
number of delegates equal to the number of sena- 
tors and representatives to which they may be 
entitled in the General Assembly, to meet in con- 
vention at the seat of government, on a day to be 
fixed in said proclamation, to take into considera- 
tion the state of the Commonwealth of Georgia, and 
to devise the course of her future policy, and pro- 
vide all necessary safeguards for the protection of 
the rights of her people." 

12 



This action of the Legislature of Georgia, so 
clearly set forth that its meaning could not be 
mistaken, awakened added interest in the case 
throughout the state and even beyond its borders, 
and foreshadowed the great issue which was finally 
settled upon the many bloody battlefields of the 
Civil War. 

Hon. George R. Gilmer succeeded Hon. William 
Schley as governor of Georgia, and April 27, 1838, 
he wrote to Governor Kent, of Maine, who had suc- 
ceeded Governor Dunlap, and reopened the case, 
demanding the arrest of Daniel Philbrook and 
Edward Kelleran as "fugitives from justice," inclos- 
ing a copy of a true bill of indictment found against 
them by the Grand Jury of the Supreme Court of 
Chatham County, Georgia, and announcing the 
appointment of George G. Miller, Esq., as agent on 
the part of the state to receive and convey Daniel 
Philbrook and Edward Kelleran to the county of 
Chatham, "to be tried for the offense with which 
they stand charged." In the indictment Philbrook 
and Kelleran were charged with "simple larceny" in 
"wrongfully, fraudulently and feloniously" stealing 
and carrying away a man slave named Atticus of 
the value of six hundred dollars, with the "inten- 
tion to sell the said negro man slave named Atticus 
and otherwise to appropriate the said negro man 
slave named Atticus to their own use and to the 



13 



use of other persons." There were four counts in 
the indictment. 

This requisition, with the certified copy of the 
indictment, etc., was followed by a letter from 
Governor Gilmer, dated Milledgeville, Ga., May 2, 
1838. In it the governor stated that Governor 
Dunlap had declined to answer a demand made 
upon him for the arrest and delivery of Philbrook 
and Kelleran on the ground that the af^davit, upon 
which the demand was made, was not sufficiently 
positive in charging that the criminal acts alleged 
against them were committed by "fugitives from 
justice"; and also as uncertain in the description 
of the crime. The new indictment was for the 
purpose of removing these objections. But the 
demand, which evidently was made on the ground 
of this indictment, had another end in view than to 
arrest and bring back to Georgia these two citizens 
of Maine. In fact, there was no proof whatever 
that Philbrook and Kelleran, either by enticement 
or by any other means, "feloniously, wrongfully and 
fraudulently" induced the slave Atticus to leave his 
owners. On the contrary, both the master and 
mate claimed, according to Governor Kent, that 
they did not know the negro was on board of their 
vessel until several days had elapsed after they left 
the port of Savannah. This added reason for the 
demand appears in the following extract from Gov- 
ernor Gilmer's letter of May 2nd: 

14 




Governor Edward Kent. 



"The present demand has been made because the 
rights of property, the peace, prosperity and enjoy- 
ment of individuals, and our whole community 
require that there should be no uncertainty whether 
this state can, through the assistance of the author- 
ities of the state, to which such criminals may 
escape, punish the citizens of other states, who may 
violate the rights of property in slaves within its 
jurisdiction by the commission of such acts as, by 
the laws of the state, are made crimes. As long as 
the relations between the states, created by the 
constitution, continue to exist, it would seem to be 
wholly unnecessary to discuss the force of the obli- 
gations upon each state to perform the duties aris- 
ing from the Union. Philbrook and Kelleran, while 
they were within the limits of Georgia, committed 
acts, defined by its legislative authority to be 
crimes. They avoided punishment by taking ref- 
uge within the limits of the state of Maine. A 
demand is now made by the executive authority of 
Georgia, upon the governor of Maine, for the arrest 
and delivery of these persons to the agent of Geor- 
gia, in the form, and upon the evidence required by 
the laws of the United States, and in conformity 
with the principles of the constitution. Upon these 
facts the authorities of the state of Maine must de- 
termine whether Georgia shall have their assistance 
in exercising the power secured to her by the con- 



15 



stitution and laws of the United States in protect- 
ino- her own institutions." 

Governor Kent repUed to Governor Gilmer June 
25, 1838. He admitted that when a case is made out 
within the meaning of the constitution, it was his 
duty, as the executive ofhcer of the state, to comply 
with' the requisition. But he must be satisfied that 
the case presented comes within the language and 
intention of the constitution. "Whenever a citizen 
of his state is demanded as a fugitive from justice to 
be delivered up to be transported to a foreign tribu- 
nal, to be tried before unknown judges, away from 
his' friends and his home, for a crime, the punish- 
ment of which is extremely severe, and when this 
demand is urged as a right, and not asked as a 
favor, it surely cannot be deemed improper for the 
executive, upon whom the demand is made, ^ to 
require evidence of every constitutional condition 
before yielding up a citizen of the state over which 
he presides." Now the indictment presented against 
Philbrook and Kelleran furnished evidence, he 
added, that they had been charged with crime in 
another state, but it did not furnish evidence that 
these men were or had been "fugitives from justice' 
as charged. Such evidence must be presented. 
The constitution as clearly requires that the person 
should be a fugitive, as that he should be charged 
with a crime. There must be evidence of some 
manifest design to avoid the process of law. Gov- 

16 



ernor Kent cited the statute of Maine on the sub- 
ject in support of his view "that when a demand 
shall be made upon the executive authority of this 
state by the executive of any other state in any 
case authorized by the constitution and laws of the 
United States, for the delivery over of any fugitive 
from justice, charged in such state with treason, 
felony, or other crime, and the governor shall be 
satisfied, on investigation of the grounds of such 
demand, that the same is made conformable to 
law, and ought to be complied with, he shall issue 
his warrant under the seal of the state, authorizing 
the agent, who may make such demands, either 
forthwith, or at such time as shall be designated in 
the warrant, to take and transport such person to 
the line of this state at the expense of such agent, 
and shall also, by such warrant, require the civil 
officers within this state to afford all needful assist- 
ance in the execution thereof." 

Finding, therefore, in the papers submitted to 
him by the governor of Georgia no evidence estab- 
lishing the claim that Philbrook and Kelleran were 
"fugitives from the justice of Georgia," and nothing 
which invalidated the allegation made by them that 
they were not such fugitives, Governor Kent de- 
clined to accede to Governor Gilmer's demand. 
His decision, however, he claimed had no reference 
"to the nature of the property alleged to have been 
stolen, or to the peculiar relations existing" in the 

2 17 



state of Georgia, "and which in some degree are 
connected with this question." In other words, he 
placed the case upon the sole ground of the fair 
construction of the constitution. 

On the 23rd of August, 1838, Governor Gilmer 
replied to Governor Kent's letter. To him the let- 
ter did not furnish any sufficient justification for 
this "determined denial" to deliver Philbrook and 
Kelleran to the authorities of Georgia ; and Gov- 
ernor Gilmer proceeded to re-argue the case. "The 
equality of the privileges and immunities secured 
by the constitution to the citizens of each state in 
the several states," he said — "the identity of the lan- 
guage, habits, pursuits and feelings of the people 
throughout the Union, — and the similarity of the 
form of government, and the public institutions of 
the several states, enable the offenders against the 
laws to pass from one state into another, without 
sacrifice or difificulty. Unless, therefore, the gov- 
ernors of the several states deliver up upon demand 
all within their jurisdiction, who are charged with 
the commission of crimes in other states with the 
same certainty that criminals are arrested by the 
of^cers of justice within the jurisdiction where their 
offenses were committed, the people of this country 
have no sufificient security for the protection of 
their rights, against the facility with which offend- 
ers can escape from the jurisdiction where alone 
they can be tried, and our form of government will 

18 



have failed in providing for the performance of one 
of its most important functions, the certain punish- 
ment of crimes." But the governor was aware of 
the fact that the constitution of the United States 
reads, "a person charged in any state with treason, 
felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice," 
etc., shall be delivered up, and that Governor Kent, 
denying that Philbrook and Kelleran were fugitives 
from justice, justified his refusal to deliver them 
up on that ground. Governor Gilmer accordingly 
returned to a discussion of this point. Governor 
Kent's interpretation of the words "flee from jus- 
tice," he declared, would "obviously tend to thwart 
the purposes of the constitution by increasing the 
difificulty, if it would not render it impossible to 
make demands." The arrest of fugitives from jus- 
tice, he said, can never be asked of a governor as 
a matter of favor, to be granted according to his 
discretion. It is a matter of right, and if accom- 
panied by the proofs required by the law of the 
United States — the presumption of the law being, 
if a man is charged by a true bill of indictment with 
the commission of a crime, that he has fled from 
justice — the duty to deliver him up is imperative. 
The constitution allows no option. "It gives no 
room for the exercise of the will or caprice of the 
governor, or his yielding to public opinion or feel- 
ings around him." And the governor closed his 
letter with these words : "The authorities of Maine 

19 



cannot but be aware that if public sentiment in 
Maine requires the governor to protect persons 
from punishment who take from the citizens of 
Georgia their slave property, that the authorities 
of Georgia must necessarily protect the rights of its 
citizens from the danger to which their slave prop- 
erty will be thus exposed from mariners coming 
from Maine into her ports. I shall not attempt to 
trace out the consequence to which such a state of 
things must lead. Those who know how to esti- 
mate the blessings derived from the Union need no 
such commentary. And those who think it doing 
God service to plunder us of our slave property will 
not regard it." 

To this communication Governor Kent, Septem- 
ber 26, 1838, made a brief reply, acknowledging the 
receipt of Governor Gilmer's letter, also the receipt 
of a printed copy of the Report and Resolves of 
the Georgia Senate and House of Representatives 
adopted at its last session, which, in compliance 
with Governor Gilmer's request, he promised to lay 
before the Legislature of Maine at its next session. 
This promise he fulfilled. The Legislature, how- 
ever, took no action upon the documents thus laid 
before it except to refer the whole matter to the 
governor of the state. Thereupon the governor of 
Georgia, in his annual message to the Legislature 
of the state, called attention to the Philbrook 
Kelleran case in these words : 

20 



"The conduct of the Legislature of Maine, and 
the previous conduct of Governor Dunlap and Gov- 
ernor Kent, prove conclusively that the opposition 
to the institution of slavery is so great among the 
people of that state, that their public authorities are 
prevented from obeying the injunctions of the con- 
stitution of the United States when required to 
deliver up fugitives from justice charged with the 
crime of violating the rights of property in slaves. 
This state, therefore, must protect by its own author- 
ity the rights of its citizens in slave property against 
the disposition of the people of Maine to violate 
them. For this purpose you will be justified in 
declaring by law that all citizens of Maine who may 
come within the jurisdiction of this state, on board 
of any vessels, as owners, officers, or mariners, shall 
be considered as doing so with the intent to com- 
mit the crime of seducing negro slaves from their 
owners, and be dealt with accordingly by the officers 
of justice." 

In his annual message to the Legislature of 
Maine in January, 1840, Governor Fairfield,^ who 

^The late Hon. J. W. Bradbury, of Augusta, is authority for this 
statement, that Governor Fairfield in 1844, then United States Sena- 
tor from Maine, was the popular choice for second place on the Dem- 
ocratic ticket at the Baltimore Convention, and would have been 
nominated if the presentation of his name had not been violently 
opposed by one of the southern delegates, who objected to his nomi- 
nation on account of the governor's attitude in the dispute between 
Maine and Georgia. So violent was the attack of this delegate, and 
so positive was he of the opposition of the South on account of Gov- 
ernor Fairfield's connection with that dispute, that he carried the 

21 



succeeded Governor Kent as governor of Maine, 
referred to this language of the governor of Georgia. 
"Coming to us in a less official character," he said, 
"but few I think would regard this proposition as 
serious. Be that, however, as it may, if there was 
the least probability that such a measure could suc- 
ceed in the Legislature of Georgia, some counter 
action on our part might, perhaps, be necessary. 
But I am sure it cannot prevail. The proposition 
so clearly violates the constitution of the United 
States, and is so subversive, not only of the plainest 
principles of law, but of common sense and com- 
mon justice, that the intelligent Legislature of that 
distinguished and gallant state will never sanction 
it. The late governor and my predecessors, though 
not agreeing in their construction of the constitu- 
tion in regard to the relative rights and obligations 
of the states, yet differ principally upon a question 
of fact, to wit, whether the persons demanded were 
or were not 'fugitives from justice.' For the deci- 
sion of this question the constitution has established 

convention in his assertion of Governor Fairfield's unavailability, 
and Mr. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, received the nomination. Senator 
Fairfield wrote to his wife in Saco, May 30, 1844, as follows : "To 
my astonishment I received yesterday in the Baltimore Convention 
the highest vote for vice president on the first trial, but not a 
majority. I had nine states, to wit, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, 
Rhode Island, New York, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri, 
making a hundred and six votes. I am informed I should have been 
nominated on the second ballot if it had not been thought that my 
course when governor in the controversy between Maine and Georgia, 
and my views on the treaty, would operate against me in the South." 

22 




Governor Fairkiei.k. 



no tribunal ; and Maine, in claiming an equal right 
with Georgia, to examine and determine it, believes 
that she is not only not violating the constitution, 
but is planting herself upon the great doctrine of 
state rights. Upon a question of this sort, then, 
where there is found to exist an honest difference of 
opinion, sure it would be worse than folly to array 
the citizens of the respective states in hostile atti- 
tude, and to regard large classes of the citizens 
indiscriminately, of one state, as only bent on the 
commission of crime when entering the territory of 
the other. There is no reason why Maine and 
Georgia, though widely separated upon the map of 
the country, should not be nearly allied in mutual 
respect, interest and kind offices. The state of pub- 
lic feeling in Maine has been entirely misconceived 
by the late governor of Georgia. If there are any 
among us who are disposed to interfere with the 
domestic institutions of Georgia, or any other state, 
in violation of law, or who are disposed to obstruct 
the public authorities in the strictest performance of 
the constitutional obligation to deliver up fugitives 
from justice, be the offense what it may, the num- 
ber is extremely limited. I am persuaded that the 
present apparent feeling in our sister state will soon 
yield to juster views; and that no root of bitterness 
will be permitted to spring up between the two 
states, tending permanently to affect the peaceful 
and friendly relations that ought ever to subsist 

23 



between the different members of our great confed- 
eracy, and which I am confident, the citizens of 
this state are disposed assiduously and sincerely to 
cultivate." 

Probably the Legislature of Georgia declined to 
follow the suggestion of the governor of the state 
by proceeding to make any such enactment as he 
regarded justifiable under the circumstances. Cer- 
tainly no notice of any such action is to be found 
in any published document of the Legislature of 
Maine, or in the archives of the secretary of state. 
The proposition was not taken any more seriously 
in Georgia, evidently, than it was in Maine. The 
strange thing is that a governor of a great state 
could have given expression in a message to any 
such suggestion. 

But if we can find nothing further with reference 
to this case so far as Georgia is concerned, an echo 
of it is heard in the action of the state of Alabama, 
knowledge of which comes before us in a report of 
the judiciary committee of the Senate of Maine, 
dated April 13, 1841, having reference to "the con- 
troversy between Georgia and Maine." The report 
is signed by Charles S. Davies by order of the com- 
mittee, and is introduced by this preliminary state- 
ment: 'The Judiciary Committee, to which were 
referred the resolutions of the General Assembly of 
Alabama, transmitted by the governor, touching 
the controversy between the states of Georgia and 

24 



Maine, relating to the refusal of the latter to deliver 
up certain persons charged with offenses against 
the laws of Georgia, have the same under consider- 
ation and respectfully ask leave to make the follow- 
ing report." 

Unfortunately the report does not contain the 
resolutions of the General Assembly of Alabama, 
and diligent search in the archives of the State 
House at Augusta has not brought to light a copy 
of these resolutions. At length one was obtained 
from the archives of the state of Alabama.^ Their 
character may be inferred from the fact that the 
members of the judiciary committee of the Legisla- 
ture of Maine were obliged to "confess their regret 
at the tone" of the resolutions, and also at the 
"excited opinions" which they contained. Without 
taking any further notice of these "excited opin- 
ions," the committee proceeded to a general state- 
ment with reference to the Philbrook-Kelleran case, 
the rights of the several states in such matters, and 
the reasons for the attitude which the state of 
Maine had taken in the controversy between that 
state and the state of Georgia. 

The committee concluded its report by submit- 
ting the following resolves : 

^At the request of the writer of this paper, Governor Cobb, of 
Maine, in a letter to the governor of Alabama in the autumn of 1905, 
requested a copy of these resolutions, but he received no reply to 
his communication. A letter was also addressed to the governor 
of Alabama, with a like request, but no answer was received. 

25 



''Resolved, That in the opinion of this Legisla- 
ture, the subject matter of said communication and 
resolves, coming from the General Assembly of 
Alabama, concerning the question existing between 
Maine and Georgia, so far as this state is con- 
cerned belongs appropriately and exclusively to the 
Executive Department, and that the Legislature is 
not called upon to express any further views in 
relation thereto. 

''Resolved, That copies of this resolve, together 
with the preceding report, be transmitted to the 
governors of Alabama and Georgia." 

Some years after the Atticus affair, the ship 
Tallyrand of Thomaston, Captain Edmund Webb, 
was entering the harbor of Savannah, and the pilot 
informed Captain Webb that he was the master and 
owner of the vessel that brought Mr. Sagurs and 
his assistants to East Thomaston in 1837. He said 
Atticus was a caulker by trade and an excellent 
workman, commanding good wages, and therefore 
a valuable piece of property to his owners. Mr. 
Sagurs he described as a cruel-hearted man, who 
subjected Atticus to refinements of cruelty on his 
way back to Savannah. 

Captain Eugene W. Cookson, a grandson of 
Captain Daniel Philbrook, was at Savannah about 
twenty years ago with his vessel, which was loading 
with lumber for a New England port. One day an 
old colored man, boss of a gang of stevedores, said 

26 



he would like to speak to him ; and when the cap- 
tain told him to proceed, the old man said, "I hear 
you are from Maine. I went there once in a vessel 
whose master was Captain Daniel Philbrook. I was 
a slave then." When Captain Cookson told the 
old man that he was Captain Philbrook's grandson, 
Atticus, now known by another name, expressed 
his surprise and delight. The memory of that 
early incident in his life, which became a matter of 
interest and consideration in at least three states, 
had burned itself deep into his thoughts and feel- 
ings. In the lapse of years he had not forgotten 
those who befriended him in his endeavor to escape 
from bondage, and he found not gratification only, 
but immeasurable pleasure, in now giving expres- 
sion to the regard which he felt for his old-time 
friends on the schooner Susan. 



27 



\ 



JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL'S TWO VISITS 
TO PORTLAND IN 1857. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, April 18, 1921. 



In the life of James Russell Lowell, poet, littera- 
teur and diplomat, there is a brief period that con- 
nects him with Portland in a very interesting and 
noteworthy way. 

First of all, however, in giving this period its 
proper place, we shall do well to recall a few facts 
in the unfoldings of Lowell's brilliant career. Born 
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, February 22, 18 19, 
he was the eighth in descent from Percival Lowell, 
who came from Bristol, England, to New England 
in 1639, and settled at Newbury, Massachusetts. 
Lowell's father, Rev. Charles Lowell, who was pas- 
tor of the West Congregational Church, Boston, 
resided at the time of his death, in 186 1, at Elm- 
wood, Cambridge. Of his six children, James 
Russell was the youngest. Graduating at Harvard 
College with literary honors in 1838, he entered 
upon the study of law, and in due time was admitted 
to the bar ; but continuing to find his chief delight 
in literary ventures, especially into the realm of 

29 



poetry, he abandoned the profession of law, and in 
1 84 1, under the title, "A Year's Life," he gave to the 
public the first volume of his poetical publications. 
Late in 1843, this was followed with a second vol- 
ume of poems, affording strong evidence of growth 
in poetic imagination and expression, and of a mind 
profoundly stirred by thoughts of the unending 
struggle between right and wrong, as appears in his 
Prometheus and other poems. Naturally Lowell 
was soon found in the ranks of the anti-slavery 
reformers, in which already Longfellow and Whit- 
tier were numbered. Lowell's engagement to Miss 
Maria White, of Watertown, and his marriage to 
her, in 1844, brought into his life forceful influ- 
ences recognized and acknowledged in not a few of 
Lowell's sonnets and other poems. A year and 
more, beginning with the summer of 185 1, were 
spent by the Lowells in Italy, with a brief visit to 
England. Two of their children had died before 
this journey, and one, a son, died in Italy; and 
October 27, 1853, Mrs. Lowell, following these sore 
bereavements, also died, leaving with Lowell a 
daughter Mabel, then a little more than six years 
of age. Under the shadow of so great a sorrow, 
Lowell lovingly brought together the poems his 
wife had written, and which had found their way 
into print in various publications; and these he now 
published in a volume under the title "The Poems 
of Maria Lowell." Added helpful service he also 

30 



found in an endeavor to fulfil a wish expressed by 
Mrs. Lowell in her last hours. She was thinking 
of her little daughter, and the wish was that Mabel, 
when motherless, might receive the oversight of 
Miss Elizabeth J. Dunlap, a very intimate and dear 
friend. Lowell's endeavors in this direction, how- 
ever, were not rewarded. 

In a paper read at a meeting of the Maine His- 
torical Society in 1892, by Mr. Llewellyn Deane, of 
Washington, D. C. (who in his earlier years was a 
resident of Portland), mention is made of the Dun- 
lap family. Miss Elizabeth, Mr. Deane says, was a 
lady of very brilliant talents, an admirer of the 
writings of Emerson and Carlyle, and a zealous 
anti-slavery advocate. To the regret of a large cir- 
cle of friends in Portland, she went to California in 
the early days of its statehood expecting to marry 
her fiance, Hon. Stephen H. Chase, formerly of 
Fryeburg, and once president of the Maine Senate; 
but instead of marriage, sickness and death followed. 
In this, however, Mr. Deane seems to have been in 
error, as on her memorial in Evergreen Cemetery 
she is mentioned as the "wife of S. Henry Chase." 
Mr. Lowell evidently, in making inquiries concern- 
ing her, soon heard of her illness, and later came 
the tidings of her death on August 21, 1854. In 
connection with these events, Mr. Lowell's atten- 
tion was attracted to Miss Frances H. Dunlap, 
Elizabeth's younger sister, as possessing qualifica- 

31 



tions for the service sought ; and upon her accept- 
ance of the trust, she came to Cambridge and 
entered the household at Elmwood. 

Early in 1855, Lowell was made Longfellow's 
successor at Harvard as Smith professor of the 
French and Spanish languages and literatures, and 
professor of belles lettres, an appointment that 
was a deserved acknowledgment of the position 
Lowell had already won by his brilliant literary 
attainments ; and in order that he might still fur- 
ther add to his present equipment for service, he 
was granted a year's absence for added study in 
Europe. The time w^as spent for the most part in 
France and Germany. In the fall of 1856, having 
returned to Cambridge, Lowell entered upon the 
duties of his professorship. 

A new period in his life now opened, but in 
other ways than in his relations to Harvard College. 
Even before his recent residence abroad Lowell had 
not failed to discover the great value of the services 
he had secured in placing his daughter under the 
care and influence of Miss Dunlap. The letters he 
received from her during his absence, acquainting 
him with such facts as naturally he desired to 
obtain concerning Mabel's health and happiness, 
afforded him a deeper insight into her mind and 
character. Now, after his return, and the renewal 
of personal relations, added impressions and con- 
victions moved him until, in the summer of 1857, 

32 



marriage was proposed and accepted. In a letter 
to his friend, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton of Cam- 
bridge, he made an early announcement of the 
approaching marriage: "I have told you once or 
twice that I should not be married again if I could 
help it. The time has come when I cannot. A 
great many things (which I cannot write about) 
have conspired to bring me to this resolution, and 
I rejoice in it, for I feel already stronger and better, 
with an equability of mind that I have not felt for 
years." ' Ten days later,^ having received from Mr. 
Norton a letter expressing hearty approval of the 
proposed marriage, Mr. Lowell added: "I already 
begin to feel like my old self again in health and 
spirits, and feel secure now, if I die, of leaving 
Mabel to wise and loving government. So intimate 
an acquaintance as mine has been with Miss Dunlap 
for nearly four years has made me know and love 
her, and she certainly must know me well enough to 
be safe in committing her happiness to my hands." ^ 
Farther on in the same letter, Lowell added the 
following interesting account of a visit he had just 
made to the Dunlap home. "I went down last week 
to Portland to make the acquaintance of her family, 
and like them, especially her mother, who is a per- 
son of great character. They live in a little bit of 

■'Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, I, 401. 

2 August 21, 1857. 

^Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, I, 401, 402. 

3 33 



a house in a little bit of a street, behind the great 
house (the biggest in town) in which they were 
brought up, and not one of them seemed conscious 
that they were not welcoming me to a palace. 
There were no apologies for want of room, no Dog- 
berry hints at losses, nor anything of that kind ; but 
all was simple, ladylike, and hearty. A family of 
girls who expected to be rich, and have had to sup- 
port themselves and (I suspect) their mother in part, 
are not likely to have any nonsense in them. I 
find Miss Dunlap's education very complete in hav- 
ing had the two great teachers. Wealth and Pov- 
erty — one has taught not to value money, the other 
to be independent of it. ... I am more and more 
in love with Fanny ; whose nature is so delightfully 
cheerful that it is impossible for me to get into the 
dumps if I wished."^ 

These words in Lowell's reference to this visit to 
Portland were the occasion of the preparation of 
this paper. Certain questions at once called for an 
answer. In the first place, where was the "great 
house" mentioned by the writer of the letter, and 
where was the "little bit of a house" on a "little bit 
of a street," to which Lowell directed his feet on his 
arrival in Portland? In seeking an answer, I nat- 
urally made my way to our Maine Historical Society 
library, and addressed the inquiry to the librarian 
and her assistant, always cheerful helpers. From 

^Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, I, 402. 

34 



the society's treasures, new and old, they soon 
brought to me two well-filled scrapbooks in which 
the Goolds, William and his son Nathan, had hap- 
pily preserved their newspaper contributions with 
reference to Portland's historic houses; and from 
these the information was soon derived that the 
"great house (the biggest in town)" was the large 
brick building on the corner of State and Danforth 
Streets, now known as the Female Orphan Asylum. 
From these sources, also, came the information that 
the "big house" was built by Captain John Dunlap, 
who, in 1833, transferred his large shipping interests 
from Brunswick to Portland. 

From other sources it was soon learned that Cap- 
tain Dunlap's emigrant ancestor was a native of 
Ulster County in the north of Ireland. Born in 
1 7 15, educated at the University of Edinburgh, he 
came to this country in the spring of 1736. Receiv- 
ing Presbyterian ordination at the French Protes- 
tant Church in Boston, he subsequently resided in 
several New England localities, but chiefly in Maine. 
In 1747, he was invited to become the minister of 
the church in Brunswick, and Brunswick continued 
to be his home until his death, June 26, 1776. His 
son, Captain John Dunlap, born June 19, 1738, was 
a man of large business ability, with extensive lum- 
ber and shipbuilding interests. In 1803, he is said 
to have been regarded as the richest man in the 
District of Maine. For eight years he represented 

35 



Brunswick in the General Court of Massachusetts. 
His children by his first wife (Jenette Dunning) 
were Robert, John, David, Samuel and Mary; by 
his second wife (Mary Tappan, whom he married 
in 1788) his children were Richard T., Robert, 
Robert P.,^ and Marcia Scott. 

The second son, John, born March 9, 1774 (also 
known as Captain John Dunlap), removed from 
Brunswick to Portland. He at first occupied as a 
residence the brick house on State Street early 
known as the Coombs house, which was afterward 
owned by Mr. George A. Thomas. Later, having 
secured land on the opposite side of the street, he 
commenced the erection of the "big house" men- 
tioned in Mr. Lowell's letter, and to-day known as 
the Female Orphan Asylum. This new, commodi- 
ous and expensive residence was well within his 
ample means; and, in 1834, when it was completed, 
and he brought into it his large and interesting 
family. Captain Dunlap may rightly have enter- 
tained the expectation of finding in it both comfort 
and permanence. But the expected does not always 
happen. In 1 837-1 838, a wave of financial distress 
swept over the country. In it Portland suffered, as 
did other centers of business activity; ^ and in the 

^ Robert P. Dunlap was governor of Maine 1834-1838. 

^ In his paper before the Maine Historical Society already cited, Mr. 
Llewellyn Deane, referring to business conditions in Portland at the 
period of which mention is here made, said: "I remember well how 
many vessels were for a long time laid up at the wharves of our city 

36 



general disaster that followed, Captain Dunlap's 
property accumulations were lost. His strenuous 
efforts to retrieve his losses were not successful, and 
he died in Portland July 14, 1842. 

This much, or at least a large part, was learned 
from the Goold scrapbooks concerning the builder 
of the "big house" on the corner of State and Dan- 
forth Streets, and the father of Mrs. James Russell 
Lowell. The mother of Mrs. Lowell, as we also 
learn from these scrapbooks, was "a woman of great 
dignity, decision and character," confirming what 
Mr. Lowell writes to Mr. Norton in his mention 
of Mrs. Dunlap as "a person of great character." 
She was a great-granddaughter of Colonel Ezekiel 
Cushing, who lived at Cushing's Point, South Port- 
land, just beyond the breakwater, and was regarded 
as one of the most prominent men of his time in 
this vicinity. Her father, Apollos Cushing (whose 
house stood on the southwest side of what is now 
Lincoln Park), was one of the enterprising business 
men of Portland, and is mentioned as one of the 
projectors and builders of the Observatory on Mun- 
joy Hill in 1807, ^^^ still a conspicuous reminder 
of its former importance in giving prompt informa- 
tion concerning the approach of incoming vessels 
in that earlier period of our merchant marine. Miss 
Lois Cushing in 18 14 married Captain John Porter, 

or anchored in the stream — among others the ship John Dunlap, the 
full rigged brig Dunlap, the John Brewer and others." 

37 



who, January 21, 18 15, sailed out of Portland Har- 
bor in command of the privateer Dash, a Portland 
brig with a record of seven cruises, under four com- 
manders, and of the capture of fifteen vessels with- 
out the loss of a man or of any injury to the Dash 
worthy of mention. A very severe wintry storm 
burst upon the Maine coast not long after the brig 
passed to the eastward. Indeed, so severe was the 
storm that alarm for the safety of the vessel was 
awakened, and tidings were anxiously awaited ; but 
no tidings came, and many months passed before 
hope was finally abandoned. "Lost in the Dash" 
is still a record that is read on headstones in our 
cemeteries of that period. To Mrs. Porter, a bride 
of twenty-two months, a son was born after the loss 
of her husband, and to him she gave her husband's 
name, John Porter. September 21, 182 1, Mrs. 
Porter became the wife of Captain John Dunlap ; 
and when he died, in 1842, she and her six Dunlap 
children were living in the great house he had 
built on the corner of State and Danforth Streets. 
Because of his financial reverses already mentioned, 
however, Mrs. Dunlap, in the settlement of her 
husband's estate, sold the "great house" in 1843 to 
Judge Joseph Howard. 

But where was the "little bit of a house in a little 
bit of a street, behind the great house," as men- 
tioned by Lowell in his letter to Professor Norton ? 
Naturally it should be found in the next street 

38 



above State leading south from Danforth. Such 
"a little bit of a street" is Tyng Street, and such a 
"little bit of a house" as we were looking for is found 
on the left-hand side of the street as one passes 
down Tyng from Danforth. It is not exactly 
"behind the great house," as Lowell indicates, but it 
is so located as sufficiently to satisfy such a descrip- 
tion. From a personal examination, therefore, the 
"little bit of a house" and the "little bit of a street" 
behind the "great house" seemed to have been 
found. But further search was possible. The 
library of the Maine Historical Society has large 
sources of information, but it has not as yet a com- 
plete set of Portland Directories. An examination 
of such as are in its possession, however, furnished 
no evidence of Dunlap residents on Tyng Street. 
In the Directory for 1858, however, mention is made 
of Widow Lois Dunlap as dwelling on Brackett 
Street. But would one be likely to make mention 
of Brackett Street as a "little bit of a street," or to 
describe a house on Brackett Street as located "be- 
hind" the Female Orphan Asylum on State Street? 
The city engineer, Mr. E. W. Hunt, was now con- 
sulted in the search for added information ; and 
having access to a larger collection of Portland 
Directories than is as yet in the possession of the 
Maine Historical Society, he soon ascertained that 
Mrs. Lois Dunlap, widow of Captain John Dunlap, 
lived in 1846 on Pearl Court, mentioned in the 

39 



directory of 1847 as 66 Pearl Street. From 1850 
to 1875, her residence was at 19 (new number 45) 
Brackett Street. In 1875, ^s Mr. Hunt also learned, 
she sold her house on Brackett Street to Ruth 
Frost, describing the property in the sale as "lately 
occupied by me as a dwelling house." This, of 
course, was decisive as to the location of the house 
in which Professor Lowell found the Dunlap family 
in his visit to Portland. Doubtless, Brackett Street 
seemed to the visitor a "little bit of a street" com- 
pared with Brattle Street in Cambridge, or even 
with State Street in Portland, just as the "little bit 
of a house" on Brackett Street, as seen by Lowell, 
was afterward described by Mr. William Goold as 
"of no mean size or appearance." 

But it was to the Dunlap family, mother and 
daughters, that Lowell called especial attention in 
his letter to Norton ; and one would not err, doubt- 
less, if he should think of Frances, the daughter 
Lowell was soon to marry, as now at home, assist- 
ing in making preparations for the approaching 
wedding, and so among those who gave him such 
fitting greeting, no one of whom seemed conscious 
that they were not welcoming him to a palace. 
The words in his description of the event, although 
already cited, should be repeated here: "There 
were no apologies for want of room, no Dogberry 
hints at losses, nor anything of that kind; but all 
was simple, ladylike, and hearty. A family of girls 

40 



who expected to be rich, and have had to support 
themselves and (I suspect) their mother in part, are 
not likely to have any nonsense in them. I find 
Miss Dunlap's education very complete in having 
had the two great teachers, Wealth and Poverty — 
one has taught not to value money, the other to be 
independent of it." These fine words are as cred- 
itable to Lowell as they were to those whose guest 
he had been in this Portland visit. There was no 
nonsense in him. Born at Elmwood in a family 
that had known neither wealth nor poverty, he had 
fought his upward way in life by hard struggles 
against adverse circumstances, and had learned to 
recognize and appreciate real worth when and 
wherever found. 

The wedding, which was the occasion of Lowell's 
second visit to Portland, soon followed. Its ap- 
proach was first announced by the Boston corre- 
spondent of the New York Post in these words : 
"I hear that Mr. James Russell Lowell is to be 
married in a fortnight to a Miss Dunlap." This 
interesting item reappeared in the Portland Daily 
Advertiser, September 9, 1857, with these added 
editorial words: "It is understood that the lady 
referred to is Miss Frances H. Dunlap of this city 
and niece of ex-Governor Dunlap of Brunswick." 

The following account of the wedding, which 
occurred on September i6th, appeared in the Port- 
land Daily Advertiser of the 1 7th : "Professor James 

41 



Russell Lowell, of Harvard College, was married 
in this city yesterday morning to Miss Frances H. 
Dunlap, daughter of the late John Dunlap, Esq. 
The ceremony took place in St. Luke's church. Rev. 
Robert T. L. Lowell, of Newark, N. J., and Rev. 
Alexander Burgess, of this city, of^ciating. A large 
number of spectators witnessed the wedding, drawn 
by an interest in the distinguished bridegroom." 
In these last words, giving prominence to the bride- 
groom rather than to the bride as the attraction of 
the hour, we have one of those infelicities in repor- 
torial work which not infrequently find illustration 
in the social columns of our newspapers even at the 
present day. At the same time, however, it must 
be remembered that the bridegroom, and not the 
bride, was the unfamiliar figure in Portland, and 
that Lowell, now thirty-eight years of age, had 
reached such a prominent position in the literary 
world that not only had he been made the successor 
of Longfellow at Harvard, but that, as a poet and a 
man of letters, he was already in the front rank of 
American authors. To the Advertiser' s reference 
to the wedding it should be added that the first 
mentioned of the oiificiating clergymen was one of 
Mr. Lowell's brothers, who was also a poet and the 
author of several stories, among which the best 
remembered is "The Priest of Conception Bay." It 
should also be added that St. Luke's church, in 
which the wedding service was held, is now known 

42 



as St. Stephen's church. This stone building, 
erected by St. Luke's parish and consecrated in 
1854, was known as St. Luke's church until the 
great fire of 1866. In that memorable conflagra- 
tion St. Stephen's church, on Middle Street, was 
burned, and not long after Bishop Neely recom- 
mended to the parish of St. Stephen's church the 
purchase of St. Luke's. The recommendation was 
adopted, and both congregations occupied the church 
until the erection of St. Luke's cathedral. Accord- 
ingly in 1857, when the Lowell-Dunlap marriage 
was solemnized, the present St. Stephen's church 
was still known as St. Luke's. 

The account of the wedding that appeared in the 
Daily Advertiser has already been cited. On the 
day following the wedding, the Eastern Argus, in 
its list of marriages, included that of James Russell 
Lowell to Frances H. Dunlap, but evidently it con- 
sidered its duty to its readers fulfilled with the 
insertion of this brief announcement. In fact, the 
only extended account of an occasion of so much 
interest in the social life of the Portland of that day 
is in a paper read by Mrs. Elizabeth McL. Gould 
Rowland, September 5, 191 2, at Riverton, at a 
reunion of the class of 1859 in the Girls' High 
School in Portland. 

As a matter of information it may be well to 
remark in this connection that at the time of the 
wedding Portland had a Boys' High School and a 

43 



Girls' High School. The latter, opened September 
lo, 1850, in the ward room on Brackett Street, was 
removed a few months later to a new building on 
Chestnut Street, and continued, under Mr. Moses 
Woolson as principal, until November, 1862, when 
Mr. Woolson accepted the principalship of the 
Woodward High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. This 
change was followed a few months later by the 
union of the two Portland high schools as at present. 
At the time of the Lowell-Dunlap wedding, Mrs. 
Rowland, then Miss Gould, was fifteen years of 
age. Her account of the wedding, accordingly, is 
the story of what was of chief interest to a school- 
girl, who knew Marcia Dunlap, the bride's young- 
est sister, and had heard of the bridegroom as an 
American poet already mentioned with Longfellow 
and Whittier. The story begins with a reference 
to the difificulty Miss Gould had as a schoolgirl in 
obtaining Mr. Woolson's permission to attend the 
wedding. Other girls wanted a like privilege, and 
on reaching the school she found a group of girls 
already urgently pressing their claims upon the 
attention of the principal ; and there were those 
who exclaimed, "Let us all go." Perhaps one or two, 
she says, were allowed to go. When her chance 
came she presented her plea, remaining until Mr. 
Woolson placed his hand on the bell, rang it, and 
called the school to order. With her request thus 
dismissed Miss Gould took her seat and turned to 

44 



her books in a condition of mind as if she had been 
badly used. Later in the forenoon, however, while 
at her desk, she heard Mr. Woolson say, "Miss 
Gould, you are excused." She looked up half-dazed 
as he added, "You may go." She caught at once 
his meaning. "Without a word to anybody," she 
says, "I put away my books, got my bonnet and 
shawl, and hurried up Chestnut and Congress 
Streets alone and much elated. It was before I 
reached High Street that I heard a quick step 
behind me, and there was Mr. Woolson himself. 
'Yes, I'm going too. I couldn't dismiss the school; 
but I could let one go, and you were the only one 
who asked especially.' So, together, we rushed and 
panted up Congress Street to what is now St. 
Stephen's Church, but was then called St. Luke's 
before the cathedral was built, and I got a seat not 
far from the door, in the middle row of pews, and 
waited for the wedding party to appear." 

While she was thus sitting, expectant and impa- 
tient, the bustle at the door betokened the first 
arrivals of those accompanying the bride and bride- 
groom. In the procession, as it entered the church, 
"one," she says, "caught my eye. This was the 
poet's little daughter, a child of seven or eight per- 
haps,^ in a white dress, quite beyond my experience 
of home creations — with some pink ribbons, a sash 
probably — I remember only how pinky and pretty 

■^She was born September 9, 1847, and at this time, therefore, was 
ten years of age." 

45 



she looked, and also that she had on white kid 
gloves, which I had never seen on a child before — 
but I took in the whole dainty combination as the 
vision went down the right-hand aisle past my pew." 
A schoolgirl of fifteen years naturally may be 
expected to linger more eagerly over the vision of 
Mr. Lowell's lovely little daughter as she moved 
down the aisle of the church, and to retain more 
fully the impression which the vision made upon 
her, than over that of the bride and bridegroom who 
followed in the procession ; yet she did not fail in 
her opportunity to take in the larger view, although 
of course she could not know that of all those pres- 
ent she alone would hand on to others interesting 
recollections of a memorable social happening in the 
Forest City. None the less, however, the writer of 
the narrative added: "Soon came Mr. Lowell and 
Miss Dunlap, and he looked just like the pictures 
in his books, with the same luxuriant wavy auburn 
hair worn much longer than men have ever worn 
theirs since the Civil War. She was in white, and 
had one or two small ostrich feathers by the side of 
her low-coiled hair. Now just as they went by my 
pew, Mr. Lowell said something to her, and she 
smiled — almost laughed outright. I heard after- 
ward that as she entered the church she said to him, 
'I'm afraid I'm going to faint'; and he answered her 
in some way that turned the current of her thoughts 
and made her laugh instead. But to speak under 

46 



his breath to her, he had turned his face toward my 
pew, and I had a good full look at the distinguished 
bridegroom." 

If the writer of the above narrative had at that 
time reached maturer years, her recollections of the 
bride and bridegroom would doubtless have retained 
impressions furnishing us with other materials more 
helpful in bringing before us the personal presence 
of Mr. and Mrs. Lowell on their wedding day. 
Concerning Mr. Lowell this is not so needful, as he 
has been a familiar figure in American life and lit- 
erature so long. As to Mrs. Lowell, however, we 
may be helped by others. Mr. W. J. Stillman, who 
was associated with Mr. Lowell in literary work at 
Elmwood, and knew Mrs. Lowell there before the 
marriage, says this concerning her : "She was one 
of the rarest and most sympathetic creatures I have 
ever known. She was the governess of Lowell's 
daughter, when I first went to stay at Elmwood, 
and I then felt the charm of her character. She 
was a sincere Swedenborgian, with the serene faith 
and spiritual outlook I have generally found to be 
characteristic of that sect; with a warmth of spirit- 
ual sympathy of which I have known few so 
remarkable instances ; a fine and subtle faculty of 
appreciation, serious and tender, which was to 
Lowell like an unfolding of the divine Spirit . . . 
she fitted him like the air around him. ... He 
had felt the charm of her character before he went 

47 



to Europe, and had begun to bend to it ; but as he 
said to me after his marriage, he would make no 
sign till he had tested by a prolonged absence the 
solidity of the feeling he had felt growing up. He 
waited, therefore, till his visit to Germany had satis- 
fied him that it was sympathy, and not propinquity, 
that lay at the root of his inclination for her, before 
declaring himself. No married life could be more 
fortunate in all respects except one — they had no 
children. But for all that his life required, she was 
to him healing from sorrow and a defense against 
all trouble, a very spring of life and hope."^ 

From the reference to Elmwood in this citation 
it would seem that the earliest of these impressions 
of Mrs. Lowell belong to the period when Mr. 
Lowell was still an inmate of the Lowell home fol- 
lowing the death of Mrs. Lowell, and while Miss 
Dunlap was having the oversight of Mabel. After 
his return from France and Germany, however, he 
made his home (doubtless on account of the increas- 
ing illness of his father and sister) on Kneeland 
Street, Cambridge, with Dr. Estes Howe, who had 
married a sister of Maria White Lowell. If this 
suggestion is correct, therefore, it is to this period 
in Lowell's life that Mr. Stillman refers in the fol- 
lowing passage in his Lowell recollections: "Lowell 
was indeed very happy in his married life, and 

^ "A Few of Lowell's Letters" in The Old Rome and the New, and 
Other Studies, by W. J. Stillman. 

48 



amongst the pictures Memory will keep on her tab- 
let for me, till Death passes his sponge over it once 
for all, is one of his wife lying in a long chair under 
the trees at Dr. Howe's, when the sun was getting 
cool, and laughing with her low, musical laugh at a 
contest in punning between Lowell and myself, 
haud passibjis requis^ but in which he found enough 
to provoke his wit to activity; her almost Oriental 
eyes twinkling with fun, half-closed and flashing 
from one to the other of us; her low, sweet fore- 
head, wide between the temples ; mouth wreathing 
with humor; and the whole frame, lithe and fragile, 
laughing with her eyes at his extravagant and rol- 
licking word-play. One would hardly have said 
that she was a beautiful woman, but fascinating she 
was in the happiest sense of the word, with all the 
fascination of pure and perfect womanhood and 
perfect happiness."^ 

William Dean Howells, also, has left on record 
a personal description of Mrs. Lowell, which should 
be inserted here, although it belongs to a little later 
period : "She was a woman perfectly of the New 
England type and tradition ; almost repellantly shy 
at first and almost glacierly cold with new acquaint- 
ance, but afterward very sweet and cordial. She 
was of a dark beauty, with a regular face of the 
Spanish outline; Lowell was of an ideal manner 
toward her, and of an admiration which delicately 

^Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, I, 406, 407. 
4 49 



travestied itself and which she knew how to receive 
with smihng irony." Also, one of her own sex, 
Mrs. Sophie Herrick, has this fine characterization 
of Mrs. Lowell : "She was a noble and beautiful 
woman, eminently practical in all the affairs of life. 
Commanding in presence, gracious in her hospital- 
ity, highly cultured, and full of a keen appreciation 
of every word of Mr. Lowell, and always charming 
and womanly."^ 

These appreciative tributes clearly show how 
well-fitted Mrs. Lowell was for this closer relation- 
ship now consummated. The preceding years had 
given her large opportunities for becoming familiar 
not only with Lowell's home-life, but also with his 
methods of work; and she was able at once to find 
and plan ways that would be helpful to him in his 
busy endeavors in connection with his various liter- 
ary enterprises. Lowell's father died in January, 
1 86 1. The approach of this event opened the way 
to Lowell's return to Elmwood. The house had a 
great interest to him, not only because it was his 
birthplace, but because of its historic associations. 
It was built for Thomas Oliver, lieutenant governor 
of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the troub- 
lous times preceding the American Revolution. 
From it Oliver was driven by indignant patriots, 
and took up his residence in Boston under the pro- 
tection of British soldiers; and when the army at 

^Scudder, Biography of James Russell Loivell, I, 403, 404. 

50 




Mrs. James Russell IvOweee. 



length withdrew, OHver also withdrew, never to 
return. Later, the house was used as a hospital for 
the American army. When, with other Tory prop- 
erty, it was confiscated by the Massachusetts author- 
ities, it was purchased by Arthur Cabot of Salem. 
He sold it to Elbridge Gerry of Marblehead, a lin- 
eal descendant of Thomas Elbridge, who, about 
1640, came to this country from Bristol, England, 
as the inheritor of the Aldworth-Elbridge Pemaquid 
grant. Gerry was governor of Massachusetts from 
18 10 to 18 1 2, and vice president of the United 
States from March 4, 18 13, until his death, Novem- 
ber 23, 18 14. From the Gerry heirs, Lowell's father 
purchased the house and about ten acres of land in 
18 18, and here James Russell Lowell was born Feb- 
ruary 22, 18 19. Lowell's great joy, in returning 
now to this home of happy as well as of historic 
memories, is well expressed in a letter from Lowell 
to Richard Grant White, March 15, 186 1: "What 
a delight to me to be here in my old garret at Elm- 
wood, no college to go to (it is Saturday), sheltered 
by the very wings of the storm, and shut in from all 
the world by this white cloud of peace let down 
from heaven ! The great chimney stacks roar a 
deep bass like Harlaem organ pipes. The old light- 
ning rod thumps and rattles with every gust, as I 
used to hear it so long ago when there were no col- 
leges nor magazines nor any world outside our belt 



51 



of pines. I am at home again. I like everything 
and everybody."^ 

To Mrs. Lowell, Elmwood was a "great house," 
as was her own earlier State Street home in Port- 
land. New cares came to her as its mistress. It 
was war-time, too, and we cannot but think of her 
as sharing in fullest measure the sorrowful experi- 
ences of the Lowell family as the battle years robbed 
them of their dearest and choicest. Back of Low- 
ell's brilliant Commemoration Ode at Harvard, at 
the close of the war, was this personal family expe- 
rience. A friend of Mrs. Lowell received from her 
the following story of the stress under which the 
ode was written: "I was speaking to Mrs. Lowell of 
my strong admiration for its fire and eloquence, and 
she told me that after Mr. Lowell had agreed to 
deliver the poem on that occasion he had tried in 
vain to write it. The last evening before the date 
fixed, he said to her, 'I must write this poem 
to-night. Go to bed and do not let me feel that I 
am keeping you up, and I shall be more at ease.' 
He began it at ten o'clock. At four in the morn- 
ing he came to her door and said: 'It is done and 
I am going to sleep now.' She opened her eyes to 
see him standing haggard, actually wasted by the 
stress of labor and the excitement which had carried 
him through a poem full of passion and fire, of 523 
lines in the space of six hours." ^ 

* Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, I, 454. 
'Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell^ II, 65, note. 

52 



With Lowell, the entire fifteen years following the 
wedding in Portland, in 1857, were years of active 
literary work. His service as editor of the Atlan- 
tic Monthly (the first number of which appeared in 
November, 1857) was relinquished in 1861, and 
though he still retained his professorship at Har- 
vard, he was allowed a tutor for service which 
afforded him desired relief. In this time from 1857 
to 1872, conscious of the opportunity that was now 
his in the possession of powers fitting him for their 
best use, Lowell devoted himself increasingly to 
purely literary work, adding largely to those of his 
writings, both prose and poetry, by which he will 
longest be remembered. Following those years he 
was ready for a well-earned period of change and 
diversion. His daughter was married in April, 
1872, to Mr. Edward Burnett, of Southboro, Mass. 
In her loss from the home, dear as she was to Mrs. 
Lowell and her father alike, Mr. and Mrs. Lowell 
now planned their first joint trip to the old world ; 
and in July they sailed from Boston for an absence 
of two years. A year was spent in England and 
France, but largely in France, and the rest of their 
stay was given to Italy. Not a little of the time, 
both Lowell and his wife used for the study of the 
language of the country. "I am recovering a little 
facility in Italian — to be lost again when I get 
beyond the daily sound of it," wrote Lowell in one 
of his letters to Charles Eliot Norton. "I give 

53 



Fanny a lesson every day in the Promessi Sposi, 
which has so often served as a go-cart to those who 
are learning to take their first steps in the language. 
She reads aloud to me, so that I save my eyes and 
practice my ears at the same time. She is a very 
good scholar for she puts zeal into whatever she 
does, and is making great progress."^ 

In the autumn following the return to Cam- 
bridge, Lowell resumed his duties at Harvard, and 
also continued his literary work in a measure. In 
1877, early in the administration of President 
Hayes, however, Mr. Lowell was informed by Mr. 
Howells that the president had given him the 
pleasure of asking the professor whether he would 
accept the mission to Austria. With the presi- 
dent's letter, Mr. Howells made his way at once to 
Elmwood. Lowell read the letter and then gave it 
to Mrs. Lowell, who was present. "She read it in 
a smiling and loyal reticence, as if she would not 
say one word of all she might wish to say in urging 
his acceptance, though I could see that she was 
intensely eager for it. ... A day or two later," 
adds Mr. Howells, "he [Lowell] came to my house 
to say that he could not accept the Austrian mis- 
sion, and to ask me to tell the president so for him 
and make his acknowledgments, which he would 
also write himself. He remained talking a little 
while of other things, and when he rose to go he 

iScudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, II, 171. 

54 



said, with a sigh of vague reluctance, 'I should like 
to see a play of Calderon,' as if it had nothing to do 
with any wish of his that could still be fulfilled. 
Upon this hint I acted, and in due time it was 
found in Washington that the gentleman who had 
been offered the Spanish mission would as lief go 
to Austria, and Lowell was sent to Madrid."^ 

The Lowells left Boston for Liverpool July 14, 
1877, and after delightful days in both London and 
Paris they reached Madrid in the middle of August. 
In April, 1878, an unexpected opportunity opened 
the way to them for a brief visit to Athens and 
Constantinople, affording both Lowell and Mrs. 
Lowell fascinating glimpses of Greek and Oriental 
life. The year following greatly intensified their 
interest in life at Madrid, as well as in matters con- 
nected with the Spanish mission. In the middle of 
July, 1879, however, Mrs. Lowell was suddenly 
stricken with serious illness. "It has been typhus 
of the most malignant kind," wrote Lowell to a 
friend on the 20th. When, however, the fever had 
run its course, Lowell could only add, "All danger 
is not yet over, but hope has good grounds. The 
chances are now in her favor, especially as she 
wishes to live. I will tell you more hereafter. God 
be praised ! " But days, weeks and months of 
anxiety and alarm followed, bringing little relief to 
Lowell. Indeed, it was not until the close of the 

^Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, II, 217, 218. 

55 



year that the anxious strain was relaxed, and he 
was relieved from the "terrible trial, which the 
strange and alien country had made worse," as he 
added in a later letter to the same friend. "And all 
the while," he continued, "I have had to write cool 
little bulletins to Mabel, turning the fair side out- 
ward when my heart was breaking with anxiety 
and apprehension."^ 

During her distressing illness in Spain, Mrs. 
Lowell was kept a long time in a darkened room, 
but even under such wearisome conditions she was 
not without helpful resources. After her recovery, 
in letters to her relatives, she told them of these 
resources. In her earlier life she had formed the 
habit, she said, of committing to memory her choic- 
est treasures of the best authors, past and present, 
in poetry and prose; and now from this well-filled 
storehouse golden words thus gathered gave to 
these dark, silent hours a joy and inspiration which 
otherwise they had not known. By this illness, too, 
Mrs. Lowell was deprived of the use of her right 
hand for a long time, if indeed she ever fully recov- 
ered its use. Characteristically, when she had 
recovered sufficiently from her illness, she trained 
her left hand for needed service, and so was able 
once more to renew her touch with her loved ones 
in the homeland.^ 

^Scudder, Biography of James Russell Lowell, II, 252, 253. 
^Ivctters from her nephew, James Russell Ivowell Dunlap, of Port- 
land, Oregon. 

56 



While Mrs. Lowell was ill in Madrid the infor- 
mation reached Lowell that the president had 
nominated him as minister to England. It was 
honorable promotion, and at any other time it would 
have brought to Lowell far greater gratification. 
The nomination was confirmed, and naturally there 
followed, not long after, the usual formal presenta- 
tion of the minister to the queen. Lowell made 
the journey from Madrid to London with a heavy 
heart, and then hurried back to the bedside of his 
wife. As spring opened he was at length cheered 
by improvement in Mrs. Lowell's health, and not 
long after he found it possible to take up his new 
duties at the Court of St. James. Mrs. Lowell's 
painful experience with typhus fever in Spain, 
however, had lingering influences. In a word, it 
left her an invalid. While this did not rob her 
friends of a gracious presence, it largely restricted 
her London life to the duties of her new home. 
Only once was she able again to leave England, and 
then only for a two months' sojourn in Paris with 
Mr. Lowell. However, within the limitations which 
her long illness had imposed, Mrs. Lowell was able 
to make the acquaintance of many of the best 
that a London house of a foreign ambassador can 
bring together ; and with all the delight of other 
days she welcomed and enjoyed the new honors 
that were now crowning her husband's brilliant 
career. 



57 



The few years thus passed brought much even 
to an invahd. But suddenly, near the close of Mr. 
Lowell's service in London, when he and his wife 
were fondly considering plans for the future, Mrs. 
Lowell was again stricken with illness for which all 
search for relief was unavailing. She died in Lon- 
don, February 19, 1885, only three days before Mr. 
Lowell's sixty-sixth birthday. In a letter to Amer- 
ican friends, who had shared with him anxious days 
in Madrid at the earlier time of Mrs. Lowell's ill- 
ness, Mr. Lowell told the story of these later sad, 
sorrowful experiences: "What shall I say to you, 
even though I have the sad comfort of feeling that 
whatever I say will be said to those who loved her 
and knew the entire beauty of her character. But 
I must at least say how deeply grateful I am to you 
whose friendly devotion in Madrid did so much to 
prolong a life so precious. She was given back to 
us for five years, and for the last two of them was 
hopeful enough about her health to enjoy her life. 
She had grown easy in her ceremonial duties, and 
(since the death of her mother and sisters) had no 
desire to return home. It is all bitterly sad."^ 

In Kensal Green Cemetery, London, northwest, 
where are the graves of Sidney Smith, Leigh 
Hunt, William M. Thackeray, Anthony Trollope 
and many other well-known English authors, Mrs. 
Lowell was buried February 23rd. Although the 

^Scudder, Biography of James Russell Loivell, II, 319. 

58 



burial service was private, among the intimate 
friends present were Mr. G. W. Smalley, Lady 
Littleton, Mr. Leslie Stephen, Hon. Waldegrave 
Leslie and Mr. Henry James. Many beautiful 
wreaths of flowers represented the loving remem- 
brances of friends, members of the diplomatic corps 
and American residents in London. The Prince 
of Wales sent condolences, while Mr. Gladstone, 
then premier of Great Britain, called on Mr. Lowell 
in person for a like expression of sorrow and sym- 
pathy. 

In June following, having closed his service as 
American minister at the Court of St. James, Mr. 
Lowell returned to his own country. For awhile 
he made his home with his daughter at Southboro, 
Massachusetts, for several years spending his sum- 
mers in England, revisiting scenes and friends 
endeared to him and Mrs. Lowell during their resi- 
dence among them. When he returned in 1889, 
his daughter made a home for him again in Elm- 
wood, and there, amid scenes awakening many hal- 
lowed memories, he died August 12, i8gi} 

A few words may be added concerning the mother 
of Mrs. Lowell. In his letter to Mr. Norton con- 
cerning his visit to Portland for the purpose of 
making the acquaintance of the Dunlap family, Mr. 

^Mr. Ivowell's daughter Mabel (Mrs. Edward Burnett), died at 
Elmwood, December 30, 1898. The name of her oldest child, James 
Russell Ivowell Burnett, was changed to James Russell Ivowell, at the 
request of his grandfather. 

59 



Lowell remarked that the mother was "a person of 
great character." Mr. William Goold (to whom we 
are indebted for so many valuable notes concerning 
Portland people he had known) described Mrs. 
Dunlap in one of these notes as "a woman of great 
dignity, decision and energy," adding, that in her 
checkered life she proved herself qualified to grap- 
ple with any vicissitude she might' encounter. In 
other words, it was because of Mrs. Dunlap's char- 
acter and ability that, when she was left alone to 
the care and management of the limited family 
resources, she was able to make a suitable home for 
her children, and to give them such educational 
advantages as would fit them for lives of usefulness 
and honor. When at length, in 1875, all but one 
of the children had gone out from the home she had 
lovingly made, she sold her Brackett Street house 
and removed to Hollis Center, Maine, where she 
died October i, 1882, aged ninety-one years. 

In accordance with an arrangement she herself 
had doubtless made, Mrs. Dunlap was buried in 
Evergreen Cemetery, Portland,^ and in the same 
lot were also buried her husband (Captain John 
Dunlap) and all her children, except Mrs. Lowell, 
and two sons, William Gates Dunlap and John 
Allison Dunlap. The first of the sons, William 
Gates Dunlap, was graduated at Bowdoin College 

^ The youngest daughter, Marcia h- Dunlap, died May 10, 1884, 
and probably fulfilled her mother's wishes in the arrangement. 

60 



in the class of 1845. Going out into the world like 
many another Maine boy, he at length settled in 
Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, where he became the 
secretary of King Hamahamaha. Later, he was sent 
by the Hawaiian government to Puget Sound with 
reference to Hawaiian matters. When these had 
received his attention, he decided to remain, and 
engaged in business at Olympia, Washington Ter- 
ritory. Subsequently, with other prominent resi- 
dents of Olympia and Portland, Oregon, he became 
interested in the construction of the Union Pacific 
Railroad, and had a part in the beginnings of that 
important enterprise. He died at Olympia, June 
16, 1862, leaving a son, James Russell Lowell Dun- 
lap, now a resident of Portland, Oregon. John 
Allison Dunlap was associated with his brother in 
business in Olympia, but later he removed to Cali- 
fornia, where, after considerable success, he died in 
1862.1 

^I/lewellyn Deane, in a paper before the Maine Historical Society 
in 1892. 



On the day following the reading of this paper 
the writer sailed for England. While in London 
he visited Kensal Green Cemetery, where Mrs. 
Lowell was buried. It is on the outskirts of the 



61 



great metropolis, two and a half miles from Pad- 
dington. At the office of the superintendent, at the 
entrance to the cemetery, information with refer- 
ence to Mrs. Lowell's grave was obtained, and we 
learned that at a designated point on the main ave- 
nue an official would be found, who would conduct 
us to the Lowell memorial. The main avenue of 
the cemetery is crowded on either side with costly 
mausoleums of varied architecture. On it, at some 
distance from the entrance, our guide awaited us. 
Following him we soon came to a very attractive 
part of the inclosure, and at length the guide halted 
in front of two crosses of white marble, on one of 
which were the names of John Lothrop Motley and 
his wife, while on the other was the name of their 
youngest daughter, Susan Margaret, wife of Lt. 
Col. Herbert A. St. John Mildmay. The guide, I 
thought, supposed that, as Americans, we would be 
interested in the Motley memorials; and I was inter- 
ested, for how well I remembered that it was John 
Lothrop Motley, the author of The Rise of the 
Dutch Republic, who in England, at the outbreak 
of the Civil War, contributed to The London Times 
two exceedingly illuminating articles on the causes 
of our Civil War, presenting such an intelligent, 
graphic account of its origin as the readers of that 
influential London journal needed. These two arti- 
cles were reprinted in prominent papers on this 
side of the Atlantic, and Mr. Motley's distinguished 

62 




Mrs. IvOwum/s Mkmoriai, in Khnsal (tREEn 
Cemetery, London. 



services in the preparation of these articles were 
promptly and heartily welcomed by President Lin- 
coln and the loyal people of the northern states. 

But this was not in the thought of our guide, for 
while we were reading the Motley inscriptions, he 
was saying, "Mrs. Lowell's grave is under the shrub- 
bery in the adjoining lot"; and as we followed the 
guide we saw that, though Mrs. Lowell was buried 
in a London cemetery, she was by the side of her 
own and her husband's very dear friends. When 
we had passed round the Motley memorials, the 
guide threw back the thick, overhanging shrubbery 
on the Lowell lot and uncovered a corner of the 
delicately carved memorial over Mrs. Lowell's grave. 
The loveliness of the carving at once attracted 
attention. Closer examination showed that on the 
marble slab, upheld by the columns at the four cor- 
ners of the memorial, rested a cross in high relief 
extending nearly the whole length of the grave ; 
while on the ground, and within the bases of the 
memorial, was another marble slab bearing this 
inscription : 

Frances Dunlap Lowell, 

Wife of James Russell Lowell, 

Born in Brunswick, Maine, March, 20, 1826, 

Died in London, February 19, 1885. 

Photographs of the Lowell and Motley memori- 
als were taken by my daughter. Of course I did 

63 



not forget the sorrows of the Motleys. Mr. Motley, 
who was made our minister to Austria by President 
Lincoln, was appointed our ambassador to Great 
Britain by President Grant in 1869. Not long 
after followed Mr. Motley's recall. The story is 
told by Oliver Wendell Holmes in his John Lothrop 
Motley, A Memoir. The Motleys did not return to 
this country. Mrs. Motley died in 1874 and Mr. 
Motley in 1877. Not without deep significance on 
the latter's memorial are the words, "Truth shall 
make you free." 



64 




Memoriai, of 
Mr. and Mrs. John Lothrop Motley. 




Jamrs Thinnicv P.axti:r. 



JAMES PHINNEY BAXTER. 

Read before the Maine Historical Society, February 23, 1922. 



James Phinney Baxter was born in Gorham, 
Maine, March 23, 1831. He was the last born of 
six children. His father, Dr. Elihu Baxter, a native 
of Norwich, Vermont, was a physician of large prac- 
tice in and around Gorham. His mother, born in 
Bolton, Connecticut, and connected with prominent 
families in that state, brought into her new home 
not only a gracious presence, but those qualities of 
mind and heart which are abiding adornments. 
Gorham is an old and very attractive New England 
town with traditions that exalt prompt, patriotic and 
genuine public service. At the time of Mr. Baxter's 
birth, Gorham, in point of time, was not so far 
removed from the Revolutionary War as we now 
are from our Civil War ; and there were still living 
in the town those who had participated in the bat- 
tles and campaigns of that long and arduous patri- 
otic struggle. Mr. Baxter's middle name, Phinney, 
was the name of Gorham's Revolutionary hero. 
Colonel Edmund Phinney. 

In 1840, Dr. Baxter made Portland his residence, 
continuing there on Pleasant Street his professional 

67 



activities and securing for his wife and children the 
advantages which a large, growing and prosperous 
community affords. To James, a bright, active boy 
of nine years, such a change had many attractions. 
Portland became a city in 1832. It is beautiful 
for situation and has many historic memories from 
the beginnings of colonial Maine. What Portland 
meant to another boy in Portland, Longfellow had 
already lovingly recorded in his poem, "My Lost 
Youth." All this the boy from Gorham now saw: 
"the places and streets of that dear old town," "the 
black wharves," "the Spanish sailors with bearded 
lips," "the sheen of the far surrounding seas," "the 
fort upon the hill," the graves of "the dead captains" 
in the cemetery "overlooking the tranquil bay," and 
he heard "the sunrise gun" and the "bugle wild and 
shrill" from Fort Preble, on one side of the town, 
while on the other he looked down upon "the breezy 
dome of groves and the shadows of Deering's 
Woods." All these became the prized possession 
of the boy from Gorham, and they were lovingly 
recalled, many years later, in such poems of his own, 
beautifully illustrated, as "The Observatory" and 
"The First Parish Vane" ; while of two of his boy- 
hood playmates in Portland, George E. B. Jackson 
and Edward H. Elwell, he recorded, also late in life, 
cherished memories in a poem entitled "Gools. All 
In." 

A love of poetry was an early unfolding of Mr. 

68 



Baxter's many-sided character. The poets, Amer- 
ican and EngHsh, won his affections, and in their 
pages he found not only interest but inspiration. 
Very naturally, his earliest publications were con- 
tributions to the poetry columns of the Portland 
Transcript and other papers. Very early, also, his 
reading took a wide range, including the writings 
of the best English and American prose authors. 
When twelve years of age he began a course in 
reading that included the works of Addison, and 
the plays of Shakespeare; while a little later he 
turned to the leading authors of fiction, American, 
English and Scotch. In a single winter, when 
about thirteen years old, as he tells us, he read 
more than one hundred volumes. From Master 
Jackson's school in Portland, Mr. Baxter passed to 
Lynn Academy in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he 
remained two years. Then, returning to Portland, 
he continued his studies in the old Portland Acad- 
emy, availing himself later of the services of private 
instruction in the French, German and Spanish 
languages. 

In Mr. Baxter's boyhood, youth and early man- 
hood, however, other influences were forceful in his 
development. The period was one of increasing 
intellectual activity in New England. Lyceums, 
libraries, debating societies were much in evidence. 
The lecturer and the orator were abroad. Emerson, 
and many lesser lights, went everywhere. It was a 

69 



period also of tumultuous moral upheaval. In the 
year preceding Mr. Baxter's birth, Robert Y. Hayne, 
of South Carolina, in the Senate of the United 
States, sounded the disturbing note of secession. 
Anti-slavery societies were organized. Garrison 
and Wendell Phillips were the apostles of freedom, 
pleading the cause of the slave. The poets, Long- 
fellow and Whittier, Lowell and Holmes, were no 
less forceful in reaching the popular heart and in 
carrying the appeal for human rights into political 
fields, preparing the way for new political align- 
ments. In Maine, George Evans, Hannibal Ham- 
lin, Israel Washburn, the Morrills, William Pitt 
Fessenden and others were sounding the battle cry 
of freedom in the fifties. Under such influences 
Mr. Baxter's political principles and sympathies 
were so shaped that naturally and whole-heartedly 
he found his place among the opponents of slavery 
and the advocates of equal rights and privileges. 

But where should he find his life-work ? At first 
he turned to the profession of law as affording a 
suitable field for useful and honorable service ; and 
an arrangement was made in accordance with which 
he was to receive his training for such service in 
the office of Rufus Choate, then the most prominent 
of the members of the Boston bar. It was a rare 
opportunity for a young man, who had so favorably 
commended himself to Mr. Choate as to secure the 
advantages that were now open to him. But life 

70 



has its changes. The circumstances of to-day are 
not always the circumstances of to-morrow. In the 
earher half of the last century financial disturbances 
not unfrequently brought upon the country much 
hardship and even distress. In one of these crises 
Mr. Baxter's father suffered to such an extent that 
his accumulations of property were suddenly swept 
away. When tidings of the family misfortune 
reached the son in Boston, he was not long in set- 
tling his question of duty with reference to a 
changed situation; and he decided to forego the 
advantages of his position in the ofilice of Mr. 
Choate, return to Portland, and at once relieve his 
father of any anxious moments with reference to his 
son's future. Mr. Choate's relations to young men 
looking forward to the profession of law are well 
known, and, when his office-student's decision was 
made known to him, encouraging and helpful words 
were not wanting, we may be sure. But Mr. Bax- 
ter carefully, thoughtfully had taken into considera- 
tion ways and means by which he might best meet 
the requirements of the hour; and he determined, 
in returning to Portland, to seek some kind of work 
in which with diligence and energy he could make 
himself master of his changed circumstances. 

He certainly made no mistake in directing his 
attention to a business career; and we may be sure 
we shall not go far astray if we think of Mr. Baxter's 
love of Portland as the determining factor in solv- 

71 



ing the problem of location. As to business open- 
ings here at that time there was of course thorough 
consideration. Mr. Baxter was soon in consultation 
with Mr. William G. Davis, a young man of like 
aims and purposes, resulting in a short time in their 
establishment of a dry goods store on Congress 
Street under the firm name of Davis & Baxter. 
The undertaking was successful from the outset. 
Enterprise and good management characterized 
their business affairs, affording them, after a few 
years, ample resources for larger undertakings when- 
ever the opportunity should offer. Such an oppor- 
tunity at length appeared in connection with a new 
industry for preserving food products in hermet- 
ically sealed cans. Its possibilities were such that 
Davis & Baxter withdrew from the dry goods trade, 
and transferred their activities to a new location, 
continuing the firm name as hitherto. The enlarge- 
ment of their plant, following the opening of the 
Civil War (which added largely to the call for such 
food products), led to the organization of the Port- 
land Packing Company for its management, with 
Mr. Davis and Mr. Baxter directing its affairs. 

In these days of business enterprise and increas- 
ing prosperity, Mr. Baxter never allowed himself to 
make his daily tasks the sole concern of life. He 
was happily married, and his home and family 
surroundings brought to him rest, enjoyment and 
refreshment. Books added inspiration. They also 

72 



broadened and enriched his daily life. In the his- 
tory of his native state he had found a deep and 
growing interest. Indeed, so strongly had he been 
influenced in his historical reading and study that 
when he had obtained an ample competence, he with- 
drew from active business life and seized coveted 
opportunities for historical investigations and col- 
lections of materials having reference to the early 
history of Maine. Most men, who at Mr. Baxter's 
period of life had secured affluence, and desired to 
be released from the burdens they have hitherto 
borne, find a difificulty in their search for relief. 
An active mind cannot be satisfied with idleness. 
Disappointment naturally follows. Mr. Baxter had 
builded wisely, and he was prepared for entrance 
into the pursuits of "delightful studies." The 
change was accordingly made, and, in the full 
strength of his powers, he was free to devote him- 
self to those private personal interests that had 
become increasingly attractive. 

By its act of incorporation the Maine Historical 
Society was located in Brunswick, and a room for 
its library and cabinet was provided by the admin- 
istrative offlcers of Bowdoin College. In 1876, 
largely on the part of some of the Portland mem- 
bers, an effort was made for the transfer of the 
society's library and cabinet to Portland as neces- 
sary to its increased usefulness ; but the effort was 
unsuccessful. Mr. Baxter was elected a member 

73 



of the society at the annual meeting in 1878. A 
visit which he made to Brunswick not long after 
brought him at once to the side of those who were 
in favor of removal; and the effort at length was 
renewed with the result that, early in 1881, the 
society was established in rooms in the City Build- 
ing, Portland, recently vacated by the Portland 
Society of Natural History upon the completion of 
its new building on Elm Street. In this movement 
Mr. Baxter's assistance was of very great value. 
At one of the meetings of the society not long after 
he asked for the appointment of a committee on 
maps, antiquities, relics, portraits, etc. In present- 
ing the need and importance of such a committee, 
Mr. Baxter not only sought to interest the members 
of the society in an effort to add such treasures, but 
he expressed the hope that the people in the state 
would assist in the effort. This was a call to which 
there w^as an early response, and valuable contribu- 
tions to the library and cabinet soon began to find 
their way to the society's new quarters. 

About this time, also, Mr. Baxter's interest in 
historical concerns was greatly quickened by a serv- 
ice that came to him suddenly, unexpectedly. In 
1872, Mr. John Wingate Thornton, of Boston, but 
a native of Saco, Maine, noticed in an English cata- 
logue the advertisement of a document containing 
an autograph signature of Robert Trelawny. This 
was the name of one of the two grantees of land on 

74 



Cape Elizabeth made in 1631 by the President and 
Council for New England ; and Mr. Thornton, 
interested in matters relating to the beginnings of 
colonial Maine, wrote to the advertiser and asked 
him concerning the document. Informed in reply- 
that the document had been sold to the Rev. C. T. 
Collins Trelawny, of Ham, near Plymouth, England, 
Mr. Thornton opened a correspondence with him 
and learned that he was a descendant of Robert 
Trelawny; also that in Robert Trelawny's ancient 
home, in which he was living, there was a chest 
containing his ancestor's papers relating to Rich- 
mond's Island and vicinity; and further that the 
original patent, which Willis, in his "History of 
Maine," had mentioned as having been carelessly 
destroyed by fire early on this side of the sea, was 
also there. Naturally the Maine Historical Society 
desired to obtain possession of these papers, and 
Mr. Thornton, in 1875, was asked by the society to 
use his influence in such an effort with a view to 
their publication in a volume properly edited, with 
a memoir of Robert Trelawny, the whole to be enti. 
tied "The Trelawny Papers." Mr. Thornton was 
successful in making such an arrangement, with the 
understanding that the papers should be copied and 
the originals returned to Mr. Collins Trelawny. In 
this way the papers soon came into the possession 
of Mr. Thornton, and their publication was entrusted 
to him. Early in 1878, however, the serious illness 

75 



of Mr. Thornton was announced, and his death 
occurred in June following. The work of editing and 
printing the Trelawny papers was then entrusted 
to General John Marshall Brown. He accepted the 
appointment, and had entered upon the work, when, 
owing to a pressure of business consequent upon 
the death of his father, he was obliged to relinquish 
the task, and Mr. Baxter was requested to take 
General Brown's place. Such service he not only 
welcomed, but he had abundant leisure for its pros- 
ecution. With thoroughness and enthusiasm the 
manuscript material was carefully copied and prop- 
erly arranged; numerous explanatory notes were 
prepared showing the connection of the correspond- 
ence with contemporary history, and also furnishing 
additional information relating to persons men- 
tioned, all adding greatly to the value of the vol- 
ume. Mr. Baxter also provided introductory mate- 
rial, including a facsimile copy of the Trelawny 
and Goodyear grant, maps, etc., and an appendix 
containing contributions of great collateral interest. 
The Rev. Charles T. Collins Trelawny also added 
a carefully prepared memorial of his ancestor, 
Robert Trelawny. This, too, was a timely service, 
for Mr. Collins Trelawny soon died in the ancient 
home of his ancestor near Plymouth; and Mr. Bax- 
ter, at the close of the Trelawny memorial, inserted 
an appropriate tribute to his memory. It was Mr. 
Collins Trelawny 's wish that the Trelawny originals 

76 



on this side of the sea should now remain in Maine, 
and accordingly they have a place among the most 
valuable manuscript treasures in the possession of 
the Maine Historical Society. These papers, as 
edited by Mr. Baxter, were published in 1884 as the 
third volume of the society's Documentary Series 
under the title, "The Trelawny Papers," and the 
volume was at once recognized widely as a valuable 
addition to our knowledge of early beginnings on 
the Maine coast. 

While Mr. Baxter was preparing this volume for 
publication, two meetings of the Maine Historical 
Society occurred that were of special interest, at 
each of which Mr. Baxter returned to verse in his 
expression of congratulation to personal friends. 
One of these meetings was in honor of Longfel- 
low's seventy-fifth birthday, February 27, 1882. On 
account of the general interest in the day in Port- 
land, the poet's birthplace, the meeting was held in 
the City Hall. Mr. Baxter's contribution, entitled 
"Laus Laudati," gave fitting expression to the high 
honor in which the venerable poet was held in his 
native city, and the exalted position he had reached 
in the world's Hall of Fame in a long and memora- 
ble career ; and as Mr. Baxter closed his tribute of 
praise he crowned a bust of Longfellow with a 
wreath of oak leaves from Deering's Oaks. It was 
a day of great memories in Portland and Cam- 
bridge. The joy, however, was soon turned into 

77 



grief. Mr. Longfellow died at his home in Cam- 
bridge on March 24th, less than a month following 
his seventy-fifth birthday. 

The other celebration mentioned had reference 
to the eighty-fourth birthday of Professor A. S. 
Packard, of Bowdoin College. This was observed 
by the Maine Historical Society December 23, 
1882, in Portland. Longfellow, at the fiftieth anni- 
versary of his graduation at Bowdoin, in lines since 
often quoted, had affectionately referred to Professor 
Packard. Mr. Baxter now, also in verse, entitled 
"Greetings to the Mentor," called attention to Long- 
fellow's tribute to the "faithful teacher," and exalted 
"those august ones," the great teachers, 

"Whose work the world must say hath been well done." 

How early Mr. Baxter became interested in mat- 
ters relating to art we are not told. Evidently it 
was earlier than the period now reached when he 
had long been an intimate friend of Mr. Harry- 
Brown, of Portland, whose paintings illustrating our 
bold, rocky Maine coast had won for him more than 
local distinction. Mr. Baxter found delight and 
inspiration in accompanying Mr. Brown in his out- 
of-door work, and in this way, doubtless, his excur- 
sions into places attractive to an artist's eye began. 
When the Portland Society of Art was organized 
March 3, 1882, its first meeting was at Mr. Baxter's 
residence on Deering Street, and he was its first 
president. It was on land that he had purchased in 

78 



the rear of what is now the Portland Public Library 
that, in the latter part of 1883, a small but very 
attractive house was erected from plans made by 
Mr. John Calvin Stevens, and soon became the cen- 
ter of art interests in Portland. Unquestionably 
because of that modest beginning, influences at 
length opened the way for the larger accommoda- 
tions of the Portland Society of Art in the L. D. M. 
Sweat Memorial, on the corner of High and Spring 
Streets, dedicated April 22, 191 1. 

Shortly after Mr. Longfellow's death, and under 
the direction of a large committee in England, of 
which Edward, Prince of Wales, was the chairman, 
a marble bust of the poet, made by Thomas Brock, 
F. R. A., was given a place in Poet's Corner, West- 
minster Abbey. Only two Americans, Longfellow 
and Lowell, have received the honor of a place in 
the Abbey, and Longfellow was the first. At the 
last meeting of the committee the artist was directed 
to prepare two copies of the bust in plaster, one to 
be presented to Harvard University, and one to the 
Maine Historical Society. On the arrival of the 
society's gift arrangements were made for a public 
meeting in City Hall on February 27, 1885, the 
seventy-eighth anniversary of Longfellow's birth. 
At this meeting, with the hall crowded to the limit 
of its capacity, Mr. Baxter presided and made an 
address, in which, having told the story of the gift, 
he called attention to its significance, not only as 

79 



conferring high honor on an American poet, but 
as binding more strongly the two great EngHsh 
speaking nations; and as he closed his address he 
unveiled the bust. The whole evening was a mem- 
orable one in the history of the Maine Historical 
Society. 

By this time, and especially in connection with 
his work on the Trelawny papers, Mr. Baxter saw 
the need of a society for the preparation and publi- 
cation of a series of monographs having reference 
to voyages and discoveries on the coast of Maine at 
the opening of the seventeenth century. Accord- 
ingly he brought together in his home one evening 
a few members of the Maine Historical Society 
to whom he suggested the organization of such a 
society. His enthusiasm in presenting the matter, 
and his suggestions as to financial considerations, 
were most helpful, and such a society, known as 
"The Gorges Society," recalling the prominence 
of Sir Ferdinando Gorges in early enterprises on 
our Maine coast, was organized with Mr. Baxter as 
president. In fact, from material in the Trelawny 
papers and also obtained in England through adver- 
tisements in English periodicals and corespondence 
with English antiquaries, Mr. Baxter already had in 
preparation a monograph on George Cleeve, which 
was published by the Gorges Society in 1885, under 
the title "George Cleeve of Casco Bay, 1630- 1667," 
though a better title perhaps is found in the page 

80 



headings of the volume "George Cleeve and His 
Times." In the Trelawny papers Mr. Baxter found 
George Cleeve living in 1631 with his wife and 
daughter at the mouth of the Spurwink River on 
Cape Elizabeth, not far from Richmond's Island. 
Cleeve was soon informed by John Winter, Tre- 
lawny's agent, that he was trespassing on the rights 
of others; and, because of the proof which the agent 
was able to furnish, Cleeve, with his family and a part- 
ner by the name of Richard Tucker, passed around 
the rocky point where the Two Lights^ of Cape 
Elizabeth have long been located, entered Casco 
Bay, and made their future home on the neck of land 
then known by its Indian name Machegonne. Mr. 
Baxter's volume is the story of George Cleeve's pos- 
session of Machegonne, and of his efforts and trials 
of many kinds connected therewith. It makes a 
volume of three hundred and thirty-three pages 
including collateral documents relating to Cleeve. 
At a field-day excursion to Richmond's Island, Sep- 
tember 12, 1884, Mr. Baxter gave the members of 
the Maine Historical Society and their guests a 
very vivid account of early matters on this part of 
the Maine coast from materials with which he had 
made himself familiar in his preparation of the Tre- 
lawny papers, and of his volume on George Cleeve. 
Mr. Baxter was now fifty-four years of age. His 
work on the two volumes just mentioned had taught 

^One light has recently been discontinued. 
6 81 



him the importance and value of original manu- 
script material as sources of history, and had sug- 
gested the reward awaiting researches for added 
material in England and France relating to our 
early colonial history. Accordingly he now made 
arrangements for spending the rest of the year 1885, 
and the larger part of 1886, in England and France, 
his family accompanying him. London was made 
the center of his historical activities in England, 
because of the large manuscript collections in the 
British Museum, the London Record Oiifice, the 
library at Lambeth Palace and in many private 
collections. He also visited Bristol and Plymouth 
for manuscripts relating to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, 
so prominent in connection with the discovery and 
colonization of the Maine coast, also one of the par- 
ties in the grant of the Province of Maine in 1622. 
Later, Mr. Baxter made his way to Paris, where 
he made diligent search for manuscript material 
having reference to French discovery and settle- 
ments in Canada, and the efforts of the French 
government to extend its influence southward into 
the Province of Maine through missionaries and 
the Indians. Both in England and France Mr. 
Baxter's researches were richly rewarded, and he 
returned home in the latter part of 1886, having in 
this visit not only broadened his outlook upon 
nations and peoples, but having added greatly to 
his equipment for historical achievements. 

82 



One of his discoveries in the British Museum 
was a manuscript journal kept by an EngHsh officer 
serving in the military movements of Carleton and 
Burgoyne, southward from Canada, in the early 
part of the Revolutionary War. Mr. Baxter asked 
and received permission to have the journal copied. 
What gave the manuscript especial value, aside 
from the information it contained with reference to 
that movement, was the fact that it was not written 
day by day in the course of a strenuous military 
campaign, but afterward when the author had the 
needed leisure for such a task. During the time 
the copy of the manuscript was in preparation, 
because of the facilities the British Museum offered 
for obtaining material for explanatory notes that 
would be helpful to American readers, Mr. Baxter 
laid aside other work in which he was engaged and 
devoted himself to the preparation of such notes. 
On his arrival in Portland, accordingly, his account 
of this campaign and his annotations relating to the 
journal were so far advanced that he was able in a 
short time to proceed to publication ; and the work 
appeared in 1887 from the press of Joel Munsell 
& Sons, Albany, N. Y., with the title "The British 
Invasion from the North. The campaigns of Gen- 
erals Carleton and Burgoyne from Canada, 1776, 
1777. With the Journal of Lieutenant William 
Digby of the Fifty-third Shropshire Regiment of 
Foot. Illustrated with Historical Notes." The 

83 



work brought to Mr. Baxter a wider circle of read- 
ers than he had hitherto reached, and enlarged his 
literary reputation. 

The Maine Historical Society had now been in 
the City Building, Portland, a little more than six 
years. But the rooms in use by the society were 
on the upper floor of the building, and in case of 
fire the society's loss in its library and cabinet 
would hardly have been less than irreparable. In 
connection with a meeting held June lo, 1887, 
Professor Chapman, of Bowdoin College, who pre- 
sided, announced that Mr. Baxter, in planning a 
new home for the Portland Public Library, had 
included in his plan ample accommodations for the 
Maine Historical Society. 

This building, located on Congress Street, 
between High and State Streets, bears on its front, 
carved in stone over the entrance, the inscription, 
"The Baxter Building." To the Maine Historical 
Society were assigned the large room on the left of 
the entrance to the building, the basement under 
this room, and the large hall on the second floor. 
It was Mr. Baxter's hope that this hall would be in 
frequent use, not only for the society's meetings, but 
for public lectures, etc. In this hope he was dis- 
appointed, and at length an arrangement was made 
in accordance with which the Historical Society 
removed its library and collections to the hall, and 
the vacated room on the first floor became the ref- 

84 



erence room of the Public Library. This arrange- 
ment gave to the Historical Society ampler accom- 
modations for its library and cabinet, while at the 
same time suitable accommodations for the soci- 
ety's meetings still remained. The new quarters 
were opened February 22, 1889, and a meeting of 
the society in the afternoon of that day was made a 
dedicatory service. 

About this time Mr. Baxter extended his benefac- 
tions to his native town by presenting to Gorham, 
also, a public library building. Another gift from 
the same source not long after followed, by which 
the Baxter home in Gorham was made the property 
of the town, to be used as a museum. 

Very early, it may be while he was at work on 
the Trelawny papers, Mr. Baxter commenced the 
collection of manuscript material relating to Maine, 
having in view the preparation of a history of the 
state from the beginnings of the period of discovery 
and colonization. In this he had the assistance of 
competent research workers and copyists on both 
sides of the sea. But while the work was in prog- 
ress, and he was engaged in preparing for publica- 
tion the material for quite a number of monographs 
secured during his residence abroad, he decided to 
limit himself to this work, and leave to other hands 
the use of this large collection of source material 
relating to Maine. He had especially in view the 
use of such material by members of the Maine His- 

85 



torical Society, or of county historical societies, 
whose organization he had advocated and in vari- 
ous ways had sought to promote. He accordingly 
brought the matter to the attention of the standing 
committee of the Maine Historical Society, and 
announced his purpose to give this material to the 
society, adding the suggestion that it should be 
printed and made a part of the society's Documen- 
tary Series of publications, of which three volumes 
already had been issued. 

The publication of such a large amount of manu- 
script material, however, involved an expenditure 
requiring assistance ; and as the state of Maine 
would be benefited by the publication — her histori- 
cal manuscript originals being chiefly in the archives 
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts — he added 
the suggestion that the assistance of the Legislature 
of Maine should be sought in such an undertak- 
ing. This gift to the society was accepted, and Mr. 
Baxter, with other members of the society, appeared 
before a committee of the Maine Legislature in the 
society's behalf, with the result that the governor 
and council were authorized to enter into a contract 
with the Maine Historical Society for the publica- 
tion of early documents, charters and other papers 
illustrating the history of Maine, the state to pay to 
the society the sum of two dollars a copy for each 
volume of five hundred copies delivered to the state 
librarian. The first of these volumes, known as 

86 



"Baxter Manuscripts" (Volume IV, Documentary 
Series), was published in 1889. Nineteen volumes 
containing this manuscript material have since been 
printed, the last in 19 16. 

When Mr. Baxter commenced this manuscript 
collection it was his purpose to include all material 
relating to Maine before the year 1820, at which 
time the separation of Maine from Massachusetts 
was effected. But in 19 16 his estimate that the 
remaining material (not then secured and printed) 
would require the space of ten added volumes, he 
deemed the task too great for one who was now 
eighty-five years of age, and he brought his labors in 
connection with this monumental work to a close. 
Recently the Baxter manuscript volumes, in clear, 
distinct handwriting, strongly bound, have been 
placed in the safe of the Maine Historical Society. 

These two gifts now mentioned — the commodi- 
ous quarters in the Baxter Building and the large 
manuscript historical material relating to Maine — 
represent benefactions of a money outlay of not less 
than fifty thousand dollars at a conservative esti- 
mate. No other gifts to the society from any donor 
in the one hundred years covering its history 
approach these donations by Mr. Baxter. That 
later the Historical Society's interest in the Baxter 
Building passed to the Portland Public Library in 
nowise lessens the value of Mr. Baxter's generous 
remembrances. Like his other services in his long 

87 



connection with the society, they illustrate his high 
appreciation of the value and importance of the 
society's activities. 

At the annual meeting of the society June 25, 
1890, Hon. James W. Bradbury, who had served 
the society as president since 187 1, declined a 
re-election, and Mr. Baxter, vice president since 
1887, was made his successor. His character and 
prominence as a citizen in the various relations of 
life admirably qualified him for wise and successful 
leadership, while his acquaintance with older and 
better equipped historical societies, both in this 
country and in Europe, was so broad as to give 
promise of increasingly efficient service. 

Such service Mr. Baxter rendered. His papers 
read at meetings of the society were frequent and 
valuable. One of these, at a meeting December 20, 
1889, had reference to Sir Ferdinando Gorges. 
The society in 1847 had published Gorges' " Brief e 
Narration of the Discovery and Plantation of New 
England," but little then was known concerning 
Gorges. Indeed, so little had been brought to light 
that when Mr. Baxter went to England, in 1885, he 
found that no original documents relating to Gorges 
were known to exist in English archives save some 
papers in the British Museum exhibiting Gorges' 
connection with the Essex rebellion ; and a relative 
of the family, in reply to an inquiry concerning 
Gorges, wrote to Mr. Baxter that, having endeavored 

88 



to investigate the Gorges family history, he doubted 
"whether any original papers of Sir Ferdinando are 
now extant." At the end of a year of research 
work, however, Mr. Baxter had in his possession 
nearly two hundred manuscripts, a large portion of 
which were copies of letters bearing Gorges' sig- 
nature. The paper on Gorges, now read by Mr. 
Baxter, was the first sheaf of his gleanings from 
these manuscripts, while in 1890 the Prince Society 
in Boston published Mr. Baxter's complete story of 
Sir Ferdinando's life and services in three volumes 
under the title, "Sir Ferdinando Gorges and His 
Province of Maine." The work included not only 
the "Briefe Narration," but Gorges' "Briefe Answer 
to Objections," etc., the charter granted to him in 
1622, and his will and letters, the whole preceded by 
a memoir of Gorges covering one hundred and 
ninety-eight pages. Indeed, so thorough was Mr. 
Baxter's search for manuscript material referring to 
Sir Ferdinando that later laborers in the same field, 
and on a like quest, have had scant reward for their 
toil. 

Mr. Baxter now directed his attention to the prep- 
aration of another monograph for the Gorges Soci- 
ety. In the same volume in which, in 1847, the 
Maine Historical Society printed Gorges' "Briefe 
Narration," there also appeared "A Voyage into New 
England in 1623," by Christopher Levett. But con- 
cerning Levett, who, before the advent of George 

89 



Cleeve, sailed into Casco Bay and discovered the 
fitness of Machegonne for settlement, as little was 
known in 1847 ^-S concerning Gorges. Mr. Baxter, 
however, succeeded, while in England, in obtain- 
ing information that enabled him to prepare an 
interesting memoir of Levett, which, with Levett's 
account of his voyage into New England in 1623, 
was published in 1893 t>y the Gorges Society under 
the title "Christopher Levett of York, the Pioneer 
of Casco Bay." 

One day, while at work in the Public Record 
Office in London, Mr. Baxter discovered that he had 
before him a package of papers sent to the Lords 
of Trade by Governor Dummer of Massachusetts 
in 1725. On the package was the memorandum, 
"Thirty-one Papers produced by Mr. Dummer in 
Proof of the Right of the Crown of Great Britain to 
the Lands between New England and Nova Scotia, 
and of Several Depredations committed by the 
French and Indians between 1720 and June, 1725." 
Mr. Baxter's examination of these papers convinced 
him that they constituted a formidable indictment 
especially against Pere Sebastian Rale, concerning 
whom and the Indians at Norridgewock Mr. Baxter 
already had become somewhat familiar in the dis- 
closures of other manuscript material, and he ob- 
tained copies of these papers. At a meeting of the 
Maine Historical Society after his return, Mr. Baxter 
called attention to this material. Because of some 

90 



evidence of disapproval, and even contention, mani- 
fested in the discussion by members of the society, 
he deemed it his duty to bring together from the 
French and Massachusetts archives all the facts 
relating to these disclosures and print them. This 
he did in a volume entitled "The Pioneers of New 
France in New England, with Contemporary Let- 
ters and Documents"; and the volume was pub- 
lished in 1894 by Joel Munsell and Sons, Albany, 
New York. In its relation to matters mentioned in 
the title of the volume, this is one of the most impor- 
tant of Mr. Baxter's contributions to our Maine 
colonial history. 

Hitherto, although personally and politically inter- 
ested in city, state and national affairs, Mr. Baxter 
had neither desired nor sought public ofHce. But 
now, with reference to a municipal election at hand, 
his party associates requested his assistance in an 
effort to break the hold which the opposing party 
for some time had been able to maintain upon the 
administration of the municipal affairs of Portland, 
and he was urged to yield to their request and 
become their candidate as mayor on the Republican 
ticket. In a measure the situation as represented 
appealed to him ; but he had strong personal views 
with reference to municipal affairs, and he was not 
inclined to regard these views as sufficiently in har- 
mony with those of a majority of the voters of Port- 
land as to give any promise of success at the polls 

91 



in the approaching municipal election if he should 
be nominated. He was assured, however, that exist- 
ing conditions were favorable to success, and he not 
only yielded, but even welcomed what he now saw 
was an opportunity for important public service. 
Familiar with the business interests of Portland, he 
had in view improvements he had long desired to 
see in connection with municipal administration. 
He also believed that the influence of the city gov- 
ernment might be exerted more strongly in increas- 
ing the trade of Portland, both by land and sea. 
Also, as one who for many years had recognized the 
advantages which Portland, in its unique situation, 
possesses for making it the "City Beautiful," he 
saw an opportunity for service with reference to 
such an undertaking; and he yielded to the call 
that had come to him. Accordingly, having been 
nominated and elected as mayor of Portland, Mr. 
Baxter entered upon the duties of his office with the 
beginning of the municipal year, 1892-1893. 

He was aware, however, of the need of time in 
securing the ends he had in view. There was no 
undue haste or rashness in his recommendations; 
and he carried into his administration of the city's 
affairs the principles that had characterized his 
business career — wise foresight, careful considera- 
tion, prudent management. Indeed, so efficiently 
and acceptably were the duties of his office per- 
formed that Mr. Baxter was re-elected in each of 

92 



the three following municipal years. Among the 
important improvements long needed that were 
commenced at this time was the sewer for the drain- 
age of the northern slope of the city and a large 
section of the Deering district. Attention also was 
given to the enlargement and improvement of the 
Eastern and Western Promenades ; also a compre- 
hensive plan for developing and co-ordinating the 
city parks was obtained from a well-known land- 
scape engineer. Failure to secure re-election in 
1896, however, withdrew Mr. Baxter for awhile from 
these activities; but the value of his services in 
connection with the duties of his office was increas- 
ingly recognized in the years that followed, and in 
December, 1902, he was recalled for added service. 
In this second period, which covered the years 1903 
and 1904, Mr. Baxter continued his efforts along 
the earlier lines with larger results ; and although, 
when he retired from office, much still remained to 
be done, he lived long enough to see the improve- 
ments he had advocated so far advanced by his suc- 
cessors as to make the final achievements reason- 
ably sure. 

During the interval between the first and second 
periods of his service as mayor, Mr. Baxter returned 
to his historical work, and commenced the prepara- 
tion of a volume having reference to Jacques Car- 
tier and his voyages to the St. Lawrence, making 
large use of the material he obtained in France in 

93 



1 886. Of Cartier's first voyage of discovery, in 
1534, English readers for nearly three hundred 
years (except in Hakluyt's brief account in the 
third volume of his Voyages, etc., 1600) had been 
restricted to a translation from an Italian work of 
Ramusio in 1556 by Jean Florio, printed in London 
in 1580. In 1867, in the Bibliotheque Imperiale, an 
ancient manuscript of Cartier's first voyage was 
discovered, containing evidence that Cartier was its 
author. The manuscript had been printed, but 
because of its importance Mr. Baxter obtained a 
photographic copy of it and translated it, adding 
also, near the close of the volume, his facsimile 
copy of the original. In the Bibliotheqjie Natio7iale 
there is a manuscript of Cartier's second voyage of 
1 535-1536, and this also Mr. Baxter translated; 
while for the third voyage of 1540, he used the 
account which Hakluyt gives in the third volume 
of his Voyages, etc. The whole was preceded by a 
memoir of Cartier; and to make the volume yet 
more complete Mr. Baxter added to the narratives 
of the voyages documents relating to the animal 
and plant-life of the country, its cartography, and a 
description of its inhabitants. The work was not 
brought to a completion until the close of Mr. Bax- 
ter's second period of service as mayor, when it was 
published, in 1906, by Dodd, Mead & Company, 
New York, making available to English readers 



94 



much valuable source material relating to Cartier's 
voyages and the beginnings of New France. 

Mrs. Anne Longfellow Pierce, sister of the poet 
Longfellow and living in the Longfellow mansion 
on Congress Street, died early in 1 901, bequeathing 
this valuable property to the Maine Historical 
Society on certain conditions, one of which was 
that the society should engage within nine months 
of her decease to erect a building on the estate for 
the society's library and cabinet. Because of this 
and other conditions there was hesitation on the 
part of some of the members of the society with 
reference to the acceptance of the gift on account 
of the large outlay involved. But there was hesita- 
tion only. If the thought of removal brought even 
a shadow of disappointment to Mr. Baxter it was 
not discoverable. As president of the Portland 
Public Library he saw the rapidly growing need of 
enlarged accommodations for the library. The gift 
was accepted and Mr. Baxter was made chairman 
of the committee on plans and construction; and 
so successfully was the work carried forward that 
with the building completed, its furnishings added, 
the removal of the library and cabinet accom- 
plished, the dedication followed February 27, 1907, 
the one hundredth anniversary of Longfellow's 
birth. Mr. Baxter, in presiding, gave voice to the 
general joy of his associates in coming into the pos- 
session of such ample accommodations for the soci- 

95 



ety's increasing needs ; and he recalled the cherished 
visions of earlier members, making special mention 
of Governor Israel Washburn, who had looked for- 
ward to such a day in the history of the Maine 
Historical Society, but had died without the sight. 
When Mr. Baxter became mayor of Portland, he 
set aside his salary for the introduction of manual 
training in the public schools of Portland. A few 
years before, his friend, George S. Hunt, in a peti- 
tion to the city government, had asked for such 
instruction in the public schools, but without suc- 
cess. Impressed, evidently, by Mr. Hunt's petition, 
Mr. Baxter now started the movement as mentioned. 
A room for such training was opened in the Butler 
School, and another in the North School. An 
instructor, also, was provided. In 1897, Mr. Baxter 
saw an opportunity for larger service in this direc- 
tion. A building for the Manual Training School 
was needed ; and as chairman of the trustees of the 
Walker fund, Mr. Baxter brought the matter before 
his associates under the will of Joseph Walker, of 
Portland, with the result that the trustees offered to 
erect from the funds in their hands a building for 
the Manual Training School. As there seemed to 
be some hesitation on the part of the city with ref- 
erence to the matter, the trustees of the will recalled 
their offer. Nearly two years later, however, the 
city having made a request that the offer should be 
renewed, the trustees voted to donate from the 

96 



/^ 



Walker fund $20,000 for the erection of the pro- 
posed building on conditions that were accepted; 
and this building, on Casco Street, erected at a cost 
of about $22,000, was dedicated November 8, 1901. 
With the opening of the twentieth century the 
Maine Historical Society made suitable arrange- 
ments for a series of tercentenary celebrations hav- 
ing reference to early seventeenth century voyages 
to the coast of Maine, viz., Martin Pring's voyage 
in 1603, the voyage of Sieur de Mont and Cham- 
plain in 1604, that of George Waymouth, in 1605, 
and that of the Popham colonists in 1607. With 
reference to all of these celebrations special meet- 
ings by the society were held in which Mr. Baxter 
took very deep personal interest. Of the voyage 
in 1603, when Pring ranged the coast of Maine, 
there is no record of landing places, and the meet- 
ing accordingly was held in the Historical Society's 
hall in Portland, at which Mr. Baxter read a paper 
entitled, "The Avant Couriers of Colonization," hav- 
ing reference to the long list of English, French 
and Spanish discoverers, who were on the Ameri- 
can coast following John Cabot's discovery of the 
continent in 1497, the paper making a most appro- 
priate introduction to Professor A. L. P. Dennis' 
paper on Pring's voyage that followed. At the De 
Mont tercentenary, in June, 1904, at Calais and on 
St. Croix Island, Mr. Baxter's contribution was a 
paper on Samuel de Champlain, De Mont's asso- 

7 97 



ciate. The tercentenary of Waymouth's voyage of 
1605 was held at Thomas ton and St. George's Har- 
bor, July 6, 1905, at which Mr. Baxter's paper 
largely had reference to England's claim to the dis- 
covery of the North American coast by Cabot over 
the claim of France that the discovery was made 
by Verrazano in 1524, and that of Spain by Gomez 
in 1525. The Popham celebration, August 29, 
1907, was on the original site of Fort George 
erected by the Popham colonists at the mouth of 
the Kennebec in 1607. On this occasion, Mr. 
Baxter, after mention of Sir Ferdinando Gorges as 
the leading spirit in that pioneer enterprise at colo- 
nization on the New England coast, graphically 
sketched Chief Justice Popham (associated with 
Gorges in the undertaking), also George Popham 
and Ralegh Gilbert, heads of the colony, closing 
his paper with corrections of the errors made at the 
society's Popham celebration in 1862 by some of 
the speakers, who, in that earlier time, lacked access 
to sources of information discovered later. 

Another celebration, which had especial signifi- 
cance to Mr. Baxter, was the dedication of Lincoln 
Park in Portland, on February 12, 1909. While 
mayor of Portland he had occasion to recognize 
heartily the early action of the city government fol- 
lowing the great fire of 1866 in making provision 
for this park. Now, he had the gratification of 
recognizing the recent action of the city govern- 

98 



ment in a timely seizure of a favorable opportunity 
for the enlargement of the park. Most appropri- 
ately the one hundredth anniversary of President 
Lincoln's birth was appointed for the dedicatory 
service, to which Mr, Baxter contributed a poem 
entitled "Lincoln." 

It must have been about this time, also, that Mr. 
Baxter became interested in the Shakespeare-Bacon 
controversy, and it may be that a short visit to Eng- 
land, made by him in 1907, was planned, in part at 
least, in order that he might avail himself of the 
advantages which Stratford-on-Avon and the great 
libraries of England afford for the study of matters 
pertaining to this controversy. At all events, if 
Mr. Baxter had not earlier become interested in 
the controversy, he was soon under the influence of 
its attractiveness, and began a collection of material 
relating to it, using doubtless the assistance of 
others, as was his wont in his historical work. The 
material was abundant; and when at length he had 
accomplished his own task with reference to it, 
which, as he says, was no less than an examination 
of the entire subject, and also a review of the work 
of others, he had the manuscript of a volume of 
six hundred and eighty-six printed pages, entitled, 
"The Greatest of Literary Problems, the Author- 
ship of the Shakespeare Works, an Exploration of 
all Points at Issue from Their Inception to the 
Present Moment." The work was published in 

99 



1 91 5 by the Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston 
and New York, and was illustrated by many por- 
traits, y^^j-z';?^^/*? signatures, etc. In his preface, Mr. 
Baxter stated that the volume was "the result of 
conviction founded upon judgment," and he added, 
"In my treatment of opponents I hope I have not 
held them in too light esteem, fully realizing that 
what we often believe to be principles and valor- 
ously battle for not infrequently turn out to be but 
opinions,, and that beyond them may be a wide field 
of debatable ground." Evidently Mr. Baxter was 
unprepared for disapproval and criticism of the pages 
of his book ; and in a second preface he expressed 
disappointment at its reception. His other publi- 
cations had won for him strong commendation. 
The problems there were historical. He was deal- 
ing with facts for which there had been the most 
diligent, careful consideration. In his present task 
the problem was a literary one, and he lacked the 
thorough equipment he possessed in the field of 
historical research. Moreover, at eighty-four years 
of age he was not at a favorable period of life for 
successful work in any new field. This seems to 
have been his own conviction ; and lovingly, with 
the delight of earlier years as we may well believe, 
he returned to tasks still awaiting him on his own 
favorite fields. 

One of these tasks had reference to a work to be 
entitled "Acadia and the Acadians." In visiting 

100 



the scene of Longfellow's Evangeline many years 
before, Mr. Baxter became so much interested in 
the poet's story that he entrusted to a competent 
person the task of obtaining the necessary source 
material for the preparation of such a work as he 
had in mind. To this material, which at length 
came into his hands, he now turned, and he had 
made some progress in shaping it, when, one evening 
in March, 19 18, in a destructive fire in the Press 
Building in which his office was located, the man- 
uscript material for this history, and the copy already 
prepared, were destroyed. Nor was this his only 
loss. Upon his desk that evening was the com- 
pleted manuscript of a monograph in which he had 
told the story of Major Samuel Moody's eventful 
career, especially in connection with the Indian 
wars in Maine and the rebuilding of Falmouth, now 
Portland ; and this manuscript also was destroyed. 
The material on which it was based could be ob- 
tained without difficulty by others, and Mr. Baxter 
was urged to rewrite the manuscript with this assist- 
ance; but he had no heart for the service, and 
turned his attention to a nearly completed geneal- 
ogy of his Baxter ancestors, a manuscript which 
happily had not been injured in the general ruin 
occasioned by the fire. 

Following these losses and disappointments, an 
increasing loss in Mr. Baxter's remarkable physical 
strength was soon apparent. Hitherto, easily and 

101 



even surprisingly he had borne the burdens of 
varied activities; but now it became more and more 
clearly seen that the desire and even the will to do 
as he had been wont were slowly failing. He 
retained, however, his interest in the meetings of the 
Maine Historical Society; and in March, 1920, he 
attended the seventy-fifth anniversary of the New 
England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, 
at which, as on earlier occasions there and else- 
where, he advocated the erection of a Temple of 
Honor in which the Pilgrim and Puritan founders 
of New England might worthily be commemorated. 
Also, on Sunday, June 27, 1920, at a service open- 
ing a week of celebrations in recognition of Maine's 
first century of statehood, Mr. Baxter delivered an 
address in the First Parish Church, Portland, hav- 
ing reference largely to the wide influence of this 
historic church in the religious life of Maine in the 
eighteenth century, making special mention of Par- 
sons Smith, Deane and Nichols, whose combined 
pastorates covered one hundred and thirty-two 
years. From the journals of Smith and Deane Mr. 
Baxter drew the story of the early part of the period, 
while of Dr. Nichols' ministry he was able to record 
personal recollections. It was as if his life had been 
lengthened for such a service. In fact, this was 
Mr. Baxter's last important public service, and prop- 
erly we may look back upon it as the coronation of 
a long, useful and honorable life. 

102 



The year, also, was the tercentenary of the land- 
ing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. For several years 
the approaching celebration had held a favored 
place in Mr. Baxter's thoughts in his quiet hours. 
Now, again, as so often in his leisure intervals for 
many years, his meditations sought expression on 
canvas, and with his brushes and colors he depicted 
the Mayflower, a typical vessel of the period, on her 
long voyage westward. It was a night scene. The 
lonely craft, with all sails set, was holding steadily 
on her westward way, the full round moon, from an 
unclouded sky, making for her a broad pathway of 
light. Another day of the voyage had been struck 
from the calendar, and the weary voyagers were a 
day nearer to their desired haven. It had long been 
Mr. Baxter's hope that December 20, 1920, would 
find him in such a condition of health as would 
enable him to attend the Pilgrim celebration at 
Plymouth. As the memorable month drew near, 
however, bringing with it the severities of a New 
England winter, he was compelled to decline the 
invitation that came to him from the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts. In the winter months that fol- 
lowed he received the greetings of his children, 
grandchildren and great-grandchildren, also of many 
friends. But spring brought no healing in its wings. 
On May 8, 192 1, having finished his course, his work 
done, and well done, he rested from his labors. For 



103 



him, too, at length, the old call of his boyhood's 
playdays had sounded, "Gools. All In !" 

In this record of a life so long continued beyond 
the limit reached by most men, James Phinney 
Baxter stands before us a New Englander of the 
best type, desiring and endeavoring to do his duty 
as he understood it. His early training was in a 
home of love and piety, whose memories in his long 
pilgrimage he fondly cherished. When he went 
out from it, it was to do his life-work diligently, 
honorably. He was kindly, affable, patient, help- 
ful, generous, religious, a lover of justice, righteous- 
ness and peace. His home was the center of his 
affections. In it his guests received a hearty wel- 
come and cheerful hospitality. His business activ- 
ities were characterized by enterprise, foresight, 
energy. As wealth came into his possession it was 
largely invested in Portland. His historical labors 
were restricted to endeavors to obtain, use and make 
known accurate information with reference to the 
beginnings and development of colonial and pro- 
vincial Maine. His public services were devoted 
to the execution of plans and purposes that had as 
their aim the welfare and increasing prosperity of 
Portland. To him the city was beautiful for situa- 
tion, and its citizens, we may be sure, because of 
what he did to make it more beautiful, will hold 
his memory in everlasting honor. 

Mr. Baxter married, September i8, 1854, Sarah 

104 



Kimball Lewis, of Portland, by whom he had the 
following children : Florence L. (died September lo, 
1857); Hartley C; Clinton L.; Eugene R.; Mabel 
(died October 22, 1865); James P.; Alba (died Feb- 
ruary 12, 1873); Rupert H. Mrs. Baxter died Jan- 
uary 12, 1872, and Mr. Baxter married, second, April 
2, 1873, Mehitable Cummings Proctor, of Peabody, 
Massachusetts, by whom he had the following chil- 
dren: Emily P. (died September 4, 192 1); Percival P. 
(present governor of Maine), and Madeline C, widow 
of Fenton Tomlinson. Mrs. Baxter died November 
8, 1914. 

In his will Mr. Baxter, still having in view the 
erection of a "New England Pantheon," directed 
three of his sons, as trustees, to pay $50,000 to 
the city of Boston within ten years, the city 
to hold the same in trust until it should amount to 
$1,000,000, when it should be used for the erection 
of a suitable building "in the City of Boston to 
commemorate the Lives and Deeds of the Found- 
ers of New England," the structure to "be built 
of material from New England quarries, wrought 
by the hands of New England people, and adorned 
by the skill of New England artists ; and that upon 
its walls should be pictorially recorded the chief 
events of New England history." Should, however, 
the city of Boston decline to accept the trust within 
three years, the trustees were directed to pay the 
$50,000 to the city of Portland to be held until it 

105 



shall amount to $1,000,000, when it shall be used 
"either for the establishment, founding and mainte- 
nance of a Public, Humane, Charitable, Educa- 
tional or Benevolent Institution or Institutions or 
Parks within the City of Portland, the same to be 
used solely for public purposes." 

His historical manuscripts and scrap-books Mr. 
Baxter gave to the Maine Historical Society ; his 
collection of antique watches to Bowdoin College; 
a portrait of himself to the Maine Historical Soci- 
ety, to the New England Historic Genealogical 
Society, and to several other historical and literary 
societies; also $5,000 for the erection of a fountain 
in some public place in Portland, on which should 
be inscribed "The Baxter Fountain"; and the same 
sum to Bowdoin College, the income to be expended 
in the purchase of objects of art to be known as 
"The Baxter Collection in memory of Henry John- 
son." He also gave $1,000 to the Portland Society 
of Art for the establishment of a fund to be called 
"The Baxter Scholarship Fund," the income to be 
awarded annually to the pupil in the Art School 
who shall excel in drawing. He also gave to the 
Art Society his collection of Indian pottery. To 
the Baxter Memorial Library in Gorham, also, he 
gave $1,000, the income to be used in maintaining 
the Baxter homestead in that place. 

Mr. Baxter's historical work early brought to him 
membership in historical organizations in other 

106 



states. In 1882, he was made a member of the 
New England Historic Genealogical Society in 
Boston. For four years (1897- 1900) he was vice 
president of that society for Maine. In 1 901, he 
was elected its president, and remained in that ofifice 
until his death, a period longer than any of his 
predecessors. In 1887, he became a member of the 
American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mas- 
sachusetts, and was its secretary for foreign corre- 
spondence. He was also a corresponding member 
of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, of the Rhode 
Island Historical Society and of the Old Colony 
Historical Society. Bowdoin College, of which he 
was made an overseer in 1894, conferred on him the 
honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1881, and that 
of Doctor of Letters in 1904. In his city and state 
relations, in addition to his connection with organ- 
izations already mentioned, he was president of the 
Portland Benevolent Society, a founder and presi- 
dent of the Maine Society of the Sons of the Amer- 
ican Revolution, and president of the Associated 
Charities. For many years he was president of the 
Maine Savings Bank, and closely connected with 
other prominent social, financial and political organ- 
izations in Portland. His judgment and assistance 
were eagerly sought in enterprises for promoting pub- 
lic welfare. In brief, Mr. Baxter's life was a life of 
service as honorable as it was useful and many sided. 

107 




1''kanklin Simmons. 



FRANKLIN SIMMONS, SCULPTOR. 



Read at a meeting of the Maine Historical Society, March 30, 1922. 

The town of Webster, Maine, nine miles from 
Auburn, was incorporated March 7, 184 1. At an 
earHer period it formed a part of the town of Lis- 
bon. In its search for a name the new town had 
no difficulty. Daniel Webster already was in the 
foremost rank of living Americans. In 1820, by 
his memorable address at Plymouth on the two 
hundredth anniversary of the landing of the Pil- 
grims, he had won distinction as an orator of com- 
manding presence and of rarest gifts. Ten years 
later, in his forceful reply to Hayne in the Senate 
of the United States, he had become the most 
prominent of American statesmen. In 1 841, by 
what other name should a new town in Maine be 
known than by that of Webster ? 

In this town, though as yet still called Lisbon, 
Franklin Simmons was born January 11, 1839. 
He was a son of Loring and Dorothy (Batchelder) 
Simmons; also a descendant in the eighth gen- 
eration from John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden, of 
Plymouth ; while his great-grandfather, Samuel 
Simmons, then a resident of Cornwall, Connecticut, 

109 



had a record of five years' service as a Revolution- 
ary soldier in the Third Connecticut Regiment, and 
was one of a group of Revolutionary soldiers who, 
at the close of the war, established for themselves 
homes on farms in Lisbon, afterwards included in 
the new town of Webster. Samuel Simmons was 
also the first schoolmaster in that town. 

Of Samuel's three sons, John, William and 
Loring, the first (known as John Samuel) made Can- 
ton, Maine, his home. There he and his brother 
William became successful manufacturers of scythe 
rifles, which then were in use throughout New 
England. Loring Simmons seems to have pos- 
sessed less business qualifications than his brothers ; 
but, like John Samuel, he was fond of music and 
an expert player on the bass viol. Evidently it was 
from his mother, rather than his father, that Franklin 
Simmons inherited his most characteristic gifts. 
From those familiar with the family, strong testi- 
mony has come down to us concerning her intel- 
lectual qualities as including poetic insight, love of 
art and practical wisdom. While Franklin was 
still an infant his parents removed to Bath, Maine. 
Because of the better educational advantages which 
the place afforded, the change was a favorable one, 
and the boy developed into a bright, active lad. 
Very early he manifested so much interest in draw- 
ing that his mother furnished him with pencils and 
crayons, and at length added such instruction in 

110 



drawing as Bath afforded. At Rome, Italy, April 
27, 19 1 3, only a few months before his death, Mr. 
Simmons, in a letter to his cousin, Augustine Sim- 
mons, of North Anson, Maine, wrote: "Yesterday 
I received a card from a lady saying she wanted to 
visit my studio, and that she was a sister of Sophia 
Higgins, of Bath, Maine, from whom I received 
instruction in drawing when I was a boy. I was 
about eleven years old then. I remember all about 
it." The card stirred in Mr. Simmons memories 
not only of his early teacher, but of friends who 
encouraged the beginnings of his efforts in art 
studies; for he immediately added to the words just 
quoted, "There were nice people in Bath in those 
days." Miss Higgins died in Bath, January 23, 
19 16. 

When Franklin was fifteen years old the family 
removed to Lewiston. For half a century and 
more the place had been known as Lewiston Falls. 
With the development of manufacturing interests in 
New England the falls of the Androscoggin River 
at this point had attracted the attention of capital- 
ists, and already the erection of mills had been 
followed by a large increase in the population of 
Lewiston. The boy soon obtained a minor position 
in the office of the Hill Mill. His intelligence and 
faithfulness made him a favorite. The hum of the 
mill and the business of the office, however, could 
not lessen the force of the influences that had 

111 



already proved so attractive to him while at Bath. 
Yet it was not drawing and coloring to which he 
now devoted his spare moments. In some way he 
had learned that statues were first modeled in clay, 
and having procured the necessary material, and 
without any instruction in modeling, he developed 
his earliest exhibitions of the sculptor's art. From 
these beginnings the young artist received such 
encouragement that he made his way to Boston. It 
is Simmons' own story in later years that in Boston 
he saw his first statue. I am inclined to think that 
it was Canova's fine statue of Washington in the 
state house. In this visit to Boston, also, he called 
on Mr. John Adams Jackson {born in Bath, Maine, 
in 1825), who at that time was living in Boston, and 
was beginning to be known as a sculptor of much 
promise. He made a bust of Daniel Webster in 
1 85 1 and of Wendell Phillips in 1854. From him 
Simmons obtained needed instruction ; and greatly 
encouraged by the aid he received in this way he 
returned to Lewiston, withdrew from the office of 
the Hill Mill, and opened a studio in a small room 
in Waldron Block, where he began to put in prac- 
tice what he had learned. "The Newsboy" is men- 
tioned as one of Mr. Simmons' earliest efforts in 
modeling from life. This was reproduced in plaster. 
Among those from whom Mr. Simmons received 
encouragement at this time was Rev. George Knox, 
pastor of the Baptist Church in Lewiston, of which 

112 



Franklin's mother was a member. Recognizing 
signs of promise in the boy he sought to aid him in 
every possible way. It was doubtless at his sugges- 
tion that about this time young Simmons saw his 
need of a classical education as a preparation for 
his chosen life-work ; and he sought the aid of the 
late Frank L. Dingley, long editor of the Lewiston 
Journal, but then a schoolboy preparing for college 
at the Lewiston Falls Academy. Simmons called 
on Dingley, told him that he had been employed in 
the Hill Mill office, but wanted to begin the study 
of Latin and asked if he would teach him. Ding- 
ley consented, and this was the beginning of a life- 
long friendship. Later, Simmons is said to have 
entered the Maine State Seminary, at Lewiston, 
which had a collegiate course, and in 1863 became 
Bates College. One of Simmons' art efforts at this 
period was a portrait of his friend Dingley in oil. 
This long hung in Mr. Dingley's residence in 
Auburn, and was described by him as Franklin 
Simmons' "first and last attempt at oil painting." 

But Simmons' interest in sculpture was soon 
stronger than in his books, and from Waldron's 
Block he removed to a larger room in Central 
Block. It was here, probably, that he made a por- 
trait bust of Rev. George Knox, an advance upon 
his earlier work in modeling. When exhibited it 
won from his friends enthusiastic commendation. 
Doubtless it was by Mr. Knox's advice that the 

8 113 



young sculptor now made his way to Waterville, 
where Dr. Champlin, the president of Waterville 
College, now Colby College, not only gave him a 
cordial welcome, but great encouragement by an 
order for two portrait busts of himself. One of 
these is in the library of Colby College and bears 
the date "1859." Also in this library are three 
other busts by Mr. Simmons, one of President Pat- 
tison, dated "i860," one of Rev. Nathaniel Butler, 
dated "1861," and one of Hannibal Hamlin, dated 
"1889." There is also in the college library another 
bust, unsigned and undated, concerning which infor- 
mation is desired by the librarian. When making 
his will in Rome, Italy, more than half a century 
later, Mr. Simmons remembered that visit to Colby 
College in a gift of fifteen hundred dollars to found 
a scholarship there "in honor of George Knox," 
known as "The Knox Scholarship." Later, Sim- 
mons went to Brunswick, where, in a studio over 
the Pejepscot Bank, he made a bust of President 
Woods and also of Professor Packard, of Bowdoin 
College. 

In 1859 or i860, Mr. Simmons came to Portland 
and opened a studio on Middle Street. Among 
the friends he made at this time were Harrison B. 
Brown (familiarly known as Harry Brown), John 
Neal, Judge Symonds and Thomas B. Reed. In 
the early part of his Portland residence he seems to 
have devoted himself largely to making cameo 

114 



medallions of prominent citizens, but mention is 
also made of portrait busts of General Samuel Fes- 
senden, F. O. J. Smith and Rev. Horatio Stebbins. 
A bust of John Neal by Simmons is still one of the 
adornments of the reading room in the Public 
Library in Portland. At length the young sculptor 
received from the Masonic bodies of the state an 
order for a bust in marble of Robert P. Dunlap, 
governor of Maine from 1834 to 1838. It crowns 
a memorial to the governor erected near the en- 
trance to Pine Grove Cemetery in Brunswick, and 
may be earlier than the marble busts in Lewiston 
already mentioned. This, to Franklin Simmons, 
was encouragement to high endeavor, and he was 
aided by it. 

But an opportunity for larger service soon opened. 
Major General Hiram G. Berry of Rockland, one 
of Maine's most distinguished officers in the Civil 
War, was killed in the battle of Chancellorsville, 
May 3, 1863. Appointed colonel of the Fourth 
Maine Volunteers June 15, 1861, he was made a 
brigadier general, U. S. Volunteers, in 1862, and at 
the time of his death he was a major general in 
command of Hooker's old division of the Army of 
the Potomac, comprising eighteen regiments and 
thirty pieces of artillery. As a memorial over his 
grave in the cemetery at Rockland, what could be 
more fitting than a statue? In a letter to Mrs. 
Berry, dated Portland, October 7, 1863, John Neal 

115 



wrote: "From my knowledge of sculpture, and of this 
young man Simmons, I feel myself entirely justified 
in saying that I am sure of his work being not only 
a comfort and a consolation to the family, but an 
honor to the state and country." The order was 
given, and the statue, the first of many Civil War 
memorials designed and executed by Franklin Sim- 
mons, was unveiled with impressive ceremonies in 
Acorn Cemetery, Rockland, October 31, 1865. 

In his work upon the Berry statue, Mr. Simmons 
naturally not only learned much with reference to 
his chosen art, but he was also greatly encouraged 
by the congratulations he received at the unveiling. 
His outlook on the world, too, had broadened, and 
with the close of the Civil War he was not long in 
discovering that in Washington places would soon 
be found for permanent memorials of the recognized 
heroes of the war. He accordingly now closed his 
studio in Portland and made his way to the national 
capital, where he was already favorably known by 
the Maine delegation in Congress. A studio was 
secured, and he was soon at work modeling busts 
of distinguished army and naval of^cers then in 
Washington ; and it was not long before he had 
sittings from Generals Grant, Sherman, Meade, 
Sheridan, Wright, Warren and Admirals Farragut 
and Porter, also from prominent members of Con- 
gress in both houses. 

While thus engaged Mr. Simmons received his 

116 



first order for a public war memorial. The date of 
the contract was October 15, 1866, and it was espe- 
cially gratifying to the sculptor that the order came 
from his former home, Lewiston, Maine. When 
completed and erected in a park near the center of 
the city of Lewiston, the memorial included a gran- 
ite base, ten feet square, on which stands a soldier 
in bronze of heroic size; while bronze tablets, on 
the faces of the base, record the names of Lewis- 
ton's one hundred and twelve officers and soldiers 
who died in the Civil War. 

During his work in Washington Mr. Simmons 
received a commission calling for a higher reach of 
his undeveloped powers. In 1867, ^t the comple- 
tion of the extension of the national capitol at 
Washington, the House of Representatives aban- 
doned the hall it had occupied hitherto, and took 
possession of its new hall in the southern wing of 
the building. At the same time it was suggested 
in the House of Representatives that "each state 
should be permitted to send the effigies of two of 
her chosen sons, in marble or bronze, to be placed 
permanently" in the old hall, to be known hence- 
forth as "The National Statuary Hall." The sug- 
gestion was adopted, and the states were invited 
to send their contributions to the capitol. Rhode 
Island was the first to respond, selecting as her first 
representative Roger Williams, the apostle of reli- 
gious liberty. It is said that the selection of Mr. 

117 



Simmons for the execution of the Williams statue 
was at the suggestion of General Grant. However 
this may be, we soon find Mr. Simmons in Provi- 
dence in conference with Rhode Island officials and 
prominent citizens interested in the statue. As 
there was no known likeness of Roger Williams on 
either side of the sea, it was necessary that the 
sculptor should be made acquainted with his sub- 
ject, in order that his statue might be in harmony 
with all that was known of the historical Roger 
Williams ; and we may be sure that Mr. Simmons 
received at this time all possible assistance, not only 
as to the dress of the period, but also as to the char- 
acter of the founder of Rhode Island. In this way 
preparation for the statue was made complete, and 
Mr. Simmons started for Italy. With him went his 
young wife, Mr. Simmons having married, Decem- 
ber 27, 1864, Emily J., daughter of Rook Thurston 
Libby and Emily (Lord) Libby, of Auburn, Maine. 
A few months, probably in the latter part of 1867, 
they spent in Florence, Italy, where John Adams 
Jackson, of Bath, was now located, and from whom 
Mr. Simmons obtained helpful information, espe- 
cially with reference to the work that had brought 
him hither. Then, early in 1868, Mr. and Mrs. 
Simmons made their way to Rome. Here, amid 
the inspiring influences of statues and art treas- 
ures of very many centuries with which Rome was 
crowded, work on the model of Roger Williams 

118 



was carried forward with so much success that it 
won gratifying approval when submitted. It was 
then cut in marble. Even while in Rome, the 
statue received honorable recognition. It must 
have reached Washington near the close of 187 1. 
In the National Statuary Hall of the capitol it was 
the first contribution of the states to be received, 
and was hailed with congratulations not only to the 
artist, but to Rhode Island as an inspiring repre- 
sentation of the apostle of religious liberty. The 
presentation addresses in the Senate of the United 
States were made January 9, 1872, by Senators 
Sprague and Anthony, and in the House of Repre- 
sentatives January nth by Hon. B. T. Eames. 
The latter, in his address, paid a noteworthy tribute 
to Mr. Simmons. "This beautiful statue," he said, 
"wrought with exquisite skill in spotless marble, is 
a fit emblem of his [Roger Williams'] life; and 
although in form and features purely the ideal crea- 
tion of the artist is truthfully expressive of the noble 
qualities of his nature ; his generous and independ- 
ent spirit; his courage; his love of liberty, justice 
and truth ; and his unwavering devotion to princi- 
ple." All this Mr. Simmons had expressed in this 
illuminating vision of a man in middle life, with face 
marked by traces of trial and suffering, yet abound- 
ing with love and good-will, and clothed in the 
Puritan garb of his time — wide collar tied with rib- 
bon, jerkin and small clothes, and a long Genevan 

119 



gown open in front and lending dignity to the 
whole. In 1884, Mr. Simmons gave the original 
model of his Roger Williams to Colby College, 
Waterville, Maine, where it has a prominent place 
in the college art collection in Memorial Hall. 

Compared with any earlier work by Mr. Simmons, 
this statue was so far in advance as to awaken in 
his friends bright anticipations with reference to his 
future. To Simmons himself these first years in 
Rome had been full of happiness and encourage- 
ment. They were clouded at length, however, by 
the death of Mrs. Simmons, which occurred in 
Rome near the close of 1872. Mr. Frank L. Ding- 
ley, who knew Mrs. Simmons, said, "She is remem- 
bered for her great personal beauty, her unusual 
intelligence, her gracious charm of manner and her 
strong and resourceful character." 

Two other well-known statues by Mr. Simmons 
belong to this period, 1 869-1 873, The Mother of 
Moses and The Promised Land. In the first, the 
mother of Moses is sitting holding in her arms her 
infant son, looking into his face and pondering his 
possible future because of Pharaoh's cruel decree. 
With her expression of deep anxiety she also shows 
abiding faith in God. This statue was purchased by 
Mr. William S. Appleton of Boston. Mr. Simmons 
was in this country in the last part of 1873, ^^^^ 
Mr. and Mrs. Appleton invited a large number of 
lovers of art in the city to meet Mr. Simmons at an 

120 



exhibition of this statue at their home on Beacon 
Street. The other statue, The Promised Land, is 
the figure of a Hebrew woman, who, after a long 
and wearisome journey, has reached the border of 
the land of her fathers, and, resting on the stump of 
a palm tree, she is looking out on the fair prospect 
before her, with heart full of joy at the contempla- 
tion of the scene and its wonderful significance. 
With reference to this statue Judge Symonds wrote 
to Mr. Simmons: "I cannot let a day go by with- 
out thanking you for sending me the photograph 
of The Promised Land. It is fine and beautiful 
beyond all expectation. It seems to me to express 
most admirably just what you intend, and, if I may 
say so, to speak for itself." Both of these statues 
in marble are in the Simmons memorial collection 
in the Portland Society of Art. 

During Mr. Simmons' visit to this country in the 
latter part of 1873 and the earlier part of 1874, he 
made his way to places especially connected with 
his boyhood and early manhood. These were vaca- 
tion days in which the artist had the great pleasure 
of renewing old acquaintances and of making many 
new ones. They were also days that brought to 
him an order for added service that was peculiarly 
gratifying. It was an order from the city of Auburn 
for a statue of Edward Little, the founder of the old 
Lewiston Falls Academy when Auburn was known 
as Lewiston Falls. Later, and after Mr. Little's 

121 



death in 1849 (which was followed by added bene- 
factions), the academy became the Edward Little 
Institute. Still later, Auburn, then a city, desired 
to bring the institute into line with its graded pub- 
lic schools by making the Edward Little Institute 
the Edward Little High School. This, at length, 
had been effected by legislative action on the con- 
dition that Auburn would erect a statue of Edward 
Little in front of the new high school building bear- 
ing his name. The condition was accepted, and 
the order for the statue was given to Mr. Simmons. 
Only a single photograph of Mr. Little could be 
found. Happily this showed his face in full, and 
from it the sculptor executed a bust that received 
the cordial approval of relatives and friends who 
had known Mr. Little personally. In his studio in 
Rome, with the use of this bust, Mr. Simmons com- 
pleted the model of his statue of Mr. Little and it 
was cast in bronze at Munich. In the autumn of 
1877, the statue was placed on its designated site 
in Auburn, and was unveiled in connection with 
services that included an address by Hon. Nahum 
Morrill and a poem by Mrs. M. S. Reed. 

Such was Mr. Simmons' success in his statue of 
Roger Williams for the National Hall of Statuary 
at the capitol in Washington that the city of Provi- 
dence, Rhode Island, not long after gave the sculp- 
tor an order for a replica of the statue to be placed 
in Roger Williams Park. The park comprised land 

122 



once owned by Roger Williams, which had come 
into possession of the city by a bequest from Miss 
Betsey Williams, a great, great, great-granddaughter 
of Roger Williams. In the execution of this new 
order Mr. Simmons added to his Roger Williams in 
the park memorial (at the head of steps leading up 
to the pedestal on which the statue stands) a figure 
of History writing with a stylus, on the front tablet 
of the memorial, the words, "Roger Williams, 1636." 
At the unveiling of the statue, which occurred 
October 16, 1877, a large assembly of the citizens of 
Providence gathered. Mr. Simmons was present, 
and had the pleasure of unveiling the statue. Pro- 
fessor Diman of Brown University, in an address 
having reference to the place of Roger Williams in 
our early colonial period, paid a noble tribute to the 
apostle of religious liberty ; while in a reference to 
the sculptor's ideal conception of Roger Williams, 
he referred to Mr. Simmons as "an artist who, 
charged with the diiificult task of embodying in 
ideal form one of whom no authentic likeness has 
been preserved, has divined with such admirable 
insight those characteristics of the man which estab- 
lish his chief claim to our veneration." 

When Mr, Simmons returned to this country in 
1877, he brought with him from Rome two marble 
busts of Mr. John B. Brown, long prominently iden- 
tified with the business interests of Portland. One 
of these is now in the Portland residence of Mr. 

123 



Philip Greely Brown, Mr. John B. Brown's grand- 
son; and the other is in the Hbrary room of the 
Maine Historical Society in Portland. Probably 
Mr. Simmons brought with him at this time two 
other marble busts made by him, one of Mr. William 
Wood and one of Mr. Lyman Nichols, both gentle- 
men representing large manufacturing interests and 
influential in Lewiston's growth and prosperity ; 
and the busts, on this account, as well as from the 
fact that Lewiston was the early home of the sculp- 
tor, have an appropriate place in the Lewiston Pub- 
lic Library. 

But Mr. Simmons' presence in the country at this 
time had reference especially to his completion of 
a statue of William King, the first governor of 
Maine. It had been ordered by the state for the 
National Statuary Hall in the capitol at Washing- 
ton in accordance with the action of the Congress 
of the United States as already mentioned, and Mr. 
Simmons naturally had a strong personal interest in 
the execution of his task. Presentation addresses 
were made in the Senate of the United States, 
January 22, 1878, by Senators Hamlin and Blaine, 
and in the House of Representatives by Messrs. 
Frye and Reed. The address by Mr. Frye brought 
into view very completely Governor King's services 
to the state. Mr. Reed emphasized the value of 
deeds as the imperishable things in human lives. 
"Sooner or later," he said, "he who has been the 

124 



faithful servant of all shall be looked up to as the 
master." Of Mr. Simmons' statue, Blaine had only 
strong words of praise : "No one," he said, "could 
pass it without being arrested by the striking fea- 
tures, the intellectual strength, the energetic expres- 
sion which rendered him as marked for manly 
beauty as for elevated character. The same char- 
acteristics have been reproduced in marble with 
admirable skill by one who, if the dead could speak, 
would have been chosen by Mr. King for the task; 
a sculptor born in his own state, developed originally 
by laborious self-culture under adverse circumstances 
and advanced and refined in his great art by years 
of patient study amid its best models of all the ages 
under the best of living masters." 

In 1878, Mr. Charles P. Clark, then of Newton, 
Massachusetts, while in Rome, and a visitor in Mr. 
Simmons' studio, became so much interested in a 
bronze sitting-statue of Washington at Valley Forge 
that he purchased it, and it is now in possession of 
a son living in Brookline, Massachusetts. In this 
statue, Mr. Simmons, with true historical instinct, 
represents the Father of his Country reflecting 
deeply over the many difficult problems with which 
his mind was burdened in that darkest period of 
our Revolutionary War. A copy of the statue in 
bronze, but considerably reduced in size, is in the 
Franklin Simmons memorial collection in the Port- 
land Society of Art. 

125 



For some time Mr. Simmons had now been 
employed upon a memorial in honor of the officers, 
seamen and marines of the United States Navy, 
who had died "in defence of the Union and liberty 
of their country, 1861-1865." The site selected for 
the memorial was at the foot of the western slope of 
the hill on which the national capitol in Washing- 
ton stands, and not far from the imposing Grant 
memorial since erected. The cost of the elabo- 
rate granite pedestal of the memorial (^20,000) was 
provided by a congressional appropriation. Mr. 
Simmons' work on this pedestal is of Italian marble 
and reaches to the height of forty-four feet. At 
this elevation are two figures representing America 
and History, the former bowed in grief, while the 
latter holds a tablet on which she has made the rec- 
ord, "They died that their country might live." 
Another figure on a lower level, and representing 
Victory, holds in her raised right hand a wreath of 
laurel, and there are miniature figures of Mars and 
Neptune at her feet; while on the back of the 
memorial there is an added figure representing 
Peace, bearing an olive branch, and standing amid 
agricultural implements and the products of hus- 
bandry. The funds for the erection of the memo- 
rial ($21,000) were contributed by members of the 
navy of the United States. 

Mr. Simmons' statue of Henry Wadsworth Long- 
fellow in Portland, Maine, — the city of the poet's 

126 



birth — was the result of action taken by some of 
its citizens at a meeting shortly after Mr. Long- 
fellow's death in 1882. With the organization of 
the Longfellow Statue Association that followed, 
funds for the erection of the proposed statue soon 
began to come into its possession from near and 
remote parts of the country, and even from foreign 
countries. The school children in the United States 
were largely represented in these gifts. In October, 
1885, Mr. Simmons was selected as the artist of the 
memorial. It was his wish at first to represent the 
poet as standing, but his final decision was for a 
sitting-statue; and early in 1888 his plaster model 
for such a statue was submitted and accepted. The 
statue, cast in bronze at Munich, arrived in Port- 
land September 24th of that year. On the follow- 
ing day it was placed on its pedestal at the junction 
of State and Congress Streets, since known as 
Longfellow Square. The unveiling, in the presence 
of members of the Longfellow family and a large 
throng of the citizens of Portland, with the residents 
of many other places in Maine, followed on Satur- 
day afternoon, September 29th, the deeply interest- 
ing services including a prelude by Mr. George E. 
B. Jackson, the singing of Longfellow's "Psalm of 
Life" by children of the public schools of Portland, 
addresses by Hon. Charles F. Libby, president of the 
Longfellow Statue Association, and Mayor Charles 
J. Chapman, and a poem by Mrs. E. Cavazza. The 

127 



significance of the service throughout was well 
expressed by Mr. Libby in his address, when he 
said: "We have called to our aid the sculptor's 
art to perpetuate in enduring bronze the physical 
aspects of the man, the dignity and charm of his 
person. But this is not the full meaning of our 
act; it is the life of the poet rather than his fame or 
achievements, great as they were, which we would 
emphasize to-day. We would have this statue 
stand as a monument to individual worth, a tribute 
to noble living." Of the position of the statue Mr. 
Simmons once wrote in a letter to Judge Symonds: 
"The location is excellent, but the face of a statue 
that is turned toward the north is never so well 
placed as one placed in the opposite direction. 
The face is in the shadow most of the time." 

The erection of a memorial having reference to 
Portland's soldiers and sailors who died in the Civil 
War was delayed by differences of opinion with 
reference to the location and also to the memorial 
itself. These differences were finally settled in 
favor of a monument in Market Square, henceforth 
to be known as Monument Square. Evidently 
there had been some correspondence with Mr. Sim- 
mons concerning the memorial, for a letter from 
him was read in which he wrote: "The idea which 
I regard with the most favor and think would be 
most original, and by far the most impressive, is 
the idea of one figure which shall symbolize the 

128 



triumph of the Union." He also suggested that 
below this symbolical figure, on either side of the 
pedestal, there should be "accessories," viz., a group 
of soldiers on one side and a group of sailors on the 
other, "which," he said, "would give a more ample 
expression to the realistic and historic part of the 
monument." The suggestions were favorably re- 
ceived, and Mr. Simmons was requested to prepare 
models in accordance with the suggestions. The 
models were accepted, and Mr. Simmons urged for- 
ward his task with characteristic energy and enthu- 
siasm. General John Marshall Brown, president of 
the Soldiers and Sailors Association, visited Rome 
while the memorial was in progress, and brought 
home exceedingly gratifying reports concerning it. 
Meanwhile the granite pedestal, designed by Mr. 
Richard M. Hunt, of New York, was made ready 
for the statue, which arrived in Portland in June, 
1 89 1, and the monument was transferred by the 
association to the city in connection with appro- 
priate services in the City Hall on the evening of 
October 28th following. A great undertaking had 
at length been successfully accomplished. No one 
connected with it had given to it more loyal service 
than General Brown, who now reviewed its history 
in an address with affectionate memories of those 
whom the memorial so lovingly sought to honor. 
Mr. Simmons was present, and during the address, 
in an allusion to the services which Mr. Simmons 

9 129 



had so faithfully rendered, General Brown paused 
and introduced the artist to the audience, in this 
way making him again known to the people of 
Portland among whom he had once lived, and 
where he had found some of his dearest friends. 
The mayor of Portland, Hon. George W. True, 
accepted the gift of the association to the city. 
"Art," he said, "has no nobler office than to perpet- 
uate the memory and impress the lessons of noble 
deeds. That office is here well done. Let no one 
regret that the fulfilment of this work has been 
delayed till now% for time has protected us against 
hasty and crude performance." 

In all these years at Rome Mr. Simmons' mind 
had been expanding. While engaged in his work 
as thus far indicated, he had also been employed in 
modeling and executing such ideal statues as rep- 
resented his efforts to carry his art into higher 
and higher reaches. All around him in Rome were 
works of the great sculptors of many centuries, and, 
as he has left no record of the dates of his own 
works as they came from his hands in the passing 
years, we certainly shall not go far astray if w^e 
think of him as already busily employed upon some 
of the best known and most admired of his ideal 
statues. I am inclined to the opinion that the 
modeling of his Penelope belongs to this period. 
In 1907, it was stated that already three copies in 
marble of this loveliest of Mr. Simmons' creations 

130 



had been sold, one to Commodore Gerry of New 
York, one to Hon. E. S. Converse of Boston, and 
another to Mr. Wells of Burlington, Vt., and there 
is a fourth in the Simmons memorial collection in 
Portland. 

These were happy years in the sculptor's life. 
June 9, 1892, Mr. Simmons had married Ella B., 
Baroness Ernst von Jeinsen, daughter of John F. 
and Almeda (Bourne) Slocum, of Providence, R. I. 
Her husband, a German nobleman, died a few years 
after their marriage. While on a visit to Rome 
she became interested in Mr. Simmons' art, and 
then in the artist. The union was a happy one. 
More and more frequently now, Americans and 
other visitors in Rome found their way to Mr. 
Simmons' studio in the Via San Nicolo Tolentino; 
while at his villa on the Venti Settembre he and 
Mrs. Simmons were wont cordially to welcome 
members of the American colony in Rome and also 
American and other visitors in the Italian capital. 
Hither Judge Symonds, accompanied by his son, 
came in 1896, affording Mr. Simmons long desired 
opportunities not only for welcoming an old friend 
to his studio, but for showing to him and his son 
the historical places and abundant art treasures of 
Rome. 

At the time of Judge Symonds' visit Mr. Sim- 
mons was at work on his statue of General John A. 
Logan. Seven or eight years were devoted largely 

131 



to this most elaborate of the sculptor's undertakings. 
The statue when completed was unique in this, that 
the massive pedestal, as well as the horse and his 
rider, was in bronze. General Logan is represented 
by Mr. Simmons as riding slowly along his battle 
line, with drawn sword, awaiting the supreme mo- 
ment when he will move with his whole force upon 
the enemy. In high relief on the east and west 
sides of the pedestal are panels with figures illus- 
trating the twofold character of General Logan's 
public service as soldier and statesman ; that on the 
west side representing a council of war, and that on 
the east side representing a group of senators. 
The statue, located on Iowa Circle in Washington, 
was unveiled April 9, 1901. Both Mr. and Mrs. 
Simmons were present. President McKinley deliv- 
ered the oration, and there were addresses by Sen- 
tors Cullom and Depew. Mrs. Logan was so well 
satisfied with Mr. Simmons' work that in her "Rem- 
iniscences of a Soldier's Wife" she mentions the 
statue in these words : "This is without question 
the finest statue in this country because of its 
repose and artistic merit, to say nothing of the fine 
likeness to General Logan and the well-modeled 
horse." 

More than thirty years had now passed since Mr. 
Simmons established his studio in Rome. During 
this time he seems to have given little if any atten- 
tion to other parts of Europe. His visits to this 

132 



country were few, and chiefly in connection with 
his studio work. It had been and still was his pur- 
pose to make the best possible use of his talents and 
his opportunities, and busy endeavor characterized 
the fleeting years. In 1906, Judge Symonds and his 
son made a second visit to Rome. Meanwhile Mrs. 
Simmons had died, her death occurring December 
23, 1905. Nothing could have been more timely 
than Judge Symonds' appearance in Rome following 
such a bereavement. Mr. Simmons had contin- 
ued at his tasks, but under circumstances that were 
depressing. The course of his thoughts, by the 
arrival of Judge Symonds, was now changed, and he 
was drawn from his tasks to walks about Rome with 
companionship that he enjoyed, and among scenes 
interesting and inspiring. I am inclined to think 
that, before Judge Symonds' visit, Mr. Simmons' 
thoughts had begun to take shape with reference to 
an art museum in Portland, and that he now availed 
himself of the opportunity to open his mind to his 
visitor. Mr. Simmons was then sixty-seven years 
old. The largest part of his life-work was done. 
There were art collections in some of the larger 
cities of the United States. Why should not Port- 
land, the chief city in his native state, have its art 
museum ? 

However this may be, when some months after 
Judge Symonds was in Rome, Mr. Simmons had 
given so much thought to such a consideration that 

133 



March lo, 1907, he wrote to the Judge: "I am will- 
ing to give fifty thousand dollars towards it when I 
die. If a few others will do something, a sufficiently 
fine building can be erected." In another letter, 
April 4th, he made mention of an art building "where 
works of art of all kinds can be placed. . . . As it 
is now," he said, "if anybody wishes to make a pres- 
ent to Portland of some valuable portraits, bronzes, 
old china, there is no place to put them." As to a 
proper location in Portland for such a building Mr. 
Simmons, in a letter to Judge Symonds, February 
23, 1908, wrote: "The only place that I thought of 
when I was in Portland was the land in front of J. 
B. Brown's house. That would be a good location. 
There should be an empty space about the museum 
building." Later, evidently having learned of the 
bequest of Mrs. Swett to the Portland Society of 
Art, he wrote to Judge Symonds: "It seems unex- 
pectedly [that] there is to be a museum; and that 
will be a good thing for Portland." The only sug- 
gestion he had to make concerning it had reference 
to light. "I wish you would impress this upon those 
who will carry the matter through." With these 
words Mr. Simmons' thought of a museum for Port- 
land seems to have ended, except as it appears in 
his will in his own handwriting, and dated only a 
few months before he died. 

For a long time Mr. Simmons had been interested 
in what he called "the hypothesis of communication 

134 



between the living and the dead." His thoughts 
now seem to have been more frequently given to 
such matters than hitherto. Writing, in 1907, with 
reference to a letter he had just received from 
Judge Symonds, he said: "You speak of me as a 
spiritist. I wish that I fully believed, but I have 
never quite reached that point. I like to think that 
it is true and like to hear about it, and have seen 
some wonderful things, although my experience 
is much more limited than that of some others." 
So eagerly was he interested in this subject that 
through a friend he secured from Professor Charles 
Richet of Paris (then and still prominent in scien- 
tific investigations with reference to such matters), 
an answer to a request for an opinion on the sub- 
ject. This reply interested Mr. Simmons so much 
that, April 4, 1907, he sent to Judge Symonds a 
copy of Professor Richet's letter, as follows: "I am 
not very much embarrassed in saying what I believe. 
I very firmly believe that in this domain of the 
Psychical Sciences discoveries will be made from 
which our present hopes will be considered very 
poor dreams. I believe the reality is above our 
boldest conceptions ; but, as to that which is already 
proven, my good faith as a savant obliges me to say 
that there are only indications. Precious as they 
are they are not certainties." 

This subject doubtless had an added interest to 
Mr. Simmons following the death of his wife, which 

135 



occurred December 23, 1905. In the twelve years 
since their marriage she had brought into his Hfe 
much that was helpful as well as enjoyable. His 
friend, Mr. Frank L. Dingley, who visited them in 
the Simmons home in Rome, mentioned Mrs. 
Simmons on his return as a woman of culture, and 
possessed of unusual gifts, having marked ability 
in drama and song. "Their receptions," he added, 
"are among the most popular in the city, especially 
within the limits of the American colony." Her 
death ended the home-life that had given Mr. Sim- 
mons so much satisfaction. Naturally his thoughts 
now increasingly reverted to his old friends and his 
old home across the sea. 

As early as April 28, 1909, Mr. Simmons wrote 
to Judge Symonds: "I am thinking of going to 
London if not to America." He had in mind his 
old Portland friend, Harry [Harrison B.] Brown, 
then living in London. By the middle of June, 
when he started for London, he had already decided 
to see the homeland also. What a memorable meet- 
ing that was in London, as Simmons, at seventy 
years of age, met Brown, at seventy-seven, after a 
lapse of more than a quarter of a century ! Most 
of their time was given to the art treasures of the 
great metropolis. "We have had a good time going 
to the art galleries together," Mr. Simmons wrote 
to Judge Symonds. "The other day I went to 
Reynolds' [Sir Joshua] old studio, and saw the 

136 



same room (which they told me was unaltered) 
where Johnson, Burke, Goldsmith and Boswell 
dined together with the painter." In another letter 
to the same he wrote : "Brown is going with me 
to Westminster Abbey, where we will look over 
the memorials. ... I am impressed with the 
charm of London." 

At the close of July, 1909, Mr. Simmons contin- 
ued his homeward journey, and the remainder of 
the year was spent in visits among friends in places 
between Maine and Washington. He was in the 
latter place early in November, evidently in search 
of whatever would be helpful to him in making a 
statue of Commodore Preble, which he thought 
should find a place among the art treasures of Port- 
land. He thought also that Portland should have 
a statue of Neal Dow. About the middle of De- 
cember he was in Portland, and the Sunday Times 
of December 19, 1909, devoted a page to illustra- 
tions of Mr. Simmons' works, including his statue 
of Alexander Hamilton,^ at Paterson, New Jersey, 

^At the close of the meeting of the Maine Historical Society when 
this paper was read, Hon. I^eslie C. Cornish, of Augusta, chief justice 
of the Supreme Court of Maine, recalled a visit which he made to Mr. 
Simmons' studio in Rome when this statue was there. While he was 
viewing the statue, he said, interested in the subject as well as in the 
sculptor's art, Mr. Simmons asked, "Do you know whose hands 
those are?" pointing to the hands of the statue. As the judge nat- 
urally was not able to make an affirmative reply, Mr. Simmons fur- 
nished the information: "They are the hands of Booth Tarkington." 
After the lapse of many years Mr. Tarkington still has a very vivid 



137 



the sitting statue of Medusa, a bust of General W. 
T. Sherman and an architectural decoration entitled 
The Genius of Progress Leading the Nations. "In 
all these forms of sculpture," an editorial remarked, 
"Mr. Simmons has worked with signal success 
through the years of a long and vigorous lifetime." 
Mr. Simmons was again in Rome shortly after 
the middle of January, 1910. Here once more he 
returned to unfinished tasks in his studio, especially 
to his Hercules and Alcestis. Mention also is made 
of a statue of the Witch of Endor. In the following 
vacation season he availed himself of an opportunity 
for change, which, in ever attractive Paris, he wel- 
comed with more than usual interest. Toward the 
close of the year, Judge Symonds sent to him an 
encouraging report concerning art matters in Port- 
land. "I think Mr. Stevens, the architect, is mak- 
ing a fine thing of the new rooms for the Society 
of Art, the Swett memorial. The old mansion is 
restored and preserved in its best estate, and made 
to match almost perfectly in color and effect the 
new hall erected in the garden. I think you will 
say that it is exceedingly good. The old fence was 
quite an elaborate one, and that has been restored 
precisely as it was originally built. Throughout 
the work, I understand that the original panelling, 
molding, wood carving, etc., have been preserved or 

recollection of his experiences in connection with the modeling of 
those hands. 

138 



restored just as they were, and the new work all 
made of the same patterns." 

In the summer of 191 1, Mr. Simmons journeyed 
homeward by way of London, where again, with 
Harry Brown, he visited places of deep interest to 
them both. Early in October he was in Boston. 
Later he was in New York and Washington. But 
evidently these visits were not with earlier interest. 
"Do not get impatient and rush away to London," 
was Judge Symonds' exhortation, and the judge 
suggested that Mr. Simmons should settle down 
quietly in some place and learn to enjoy leisure for 
a year at least. He had desired, he added, that they 
might have a long time together in Italy and also 
in Greece. "We really hope you can be with us on 
Thanksgiving," and "a nipping and an eager air" 
was a luxury that was promised if the invitation was 
accepted. But the climate of Washington seemed 
to hold the visitor firmly there, and at the close of 
January, 191 2, he sailed from New York for Rome 
by way of London, Paris and Florence. In London 
he was greatly disappointed in finding Harry Brown 
too ill to see him except for a moment. "I told 
him," Mr. Simmons wrote to Judge Symonds, "that 
Portland people sent their love to him." Mr. Brown, 
however, outlived his friend, dying in London, 
March 10, 1915. 

Again Mr. Simmons resumed work in his studio. 
His Hercules and Alcestis, upon which he had 

139 



spent so much time in recent years, received added 
attention in his strong desire to bring the work to 
a completion. Also, if there was to be a collection 
of his statues in Portland, as he desired, it was nec- 
essary that the work of preparation on his part 
should not longer be deferred. It is significant that 
the copy in marble of his Promised Land, now in 
possession of the Portland Society of Art, was made 
in 191 2. Judge Symonds wrote to Mr. Simmons, 
February 3, 191 2, "I think of you as putting all 
your time into ideal work. It seems to me that in 
that way, better than in any other, you can crown a 
life that has done so many fine things and accom- 
plished so much." 

The opening of 19 13 found Mr. Simmons still at 
his tasks, but evidently not with his former strength. 
January 23rd, he wrote to Judge Symonds: "I was 
well during the summer, but was taken ill in Octo- 
ber with some stomach trouble, what the doctor 
calls nervous dyspepsia, and am not well yet. I 
have been able to work, but not so hard as usually. 
The group [Hercules and Alcestis] is going on 
well, but will require some months to complete it, 
I hope to finish it in season to go home this sum- 
mer. I always like to go to Portland. So long as 
my Maine friends live I can let the rest of the 
world go." To his cousin, Mr. Augustine Simmons 
of North Anson, he wrote, March 21st: "I wanted to 
go home this summer, but am not at all sure that I 

140 



can on account of Hercules, &c., for I can't leave 
that work until it is done, and it will take all sum- 
mer I fear." Visitors to Mr. Simmons' studio at 
this time found him at his tasks, but giving evi- 
dence of advancing years. His last letter to Judge 
Symonds was written November 25th : "I have not 
been well the past year, but am able to work. I 
think spending two summers in Rome was not a 
good thing. When the work is done I shall feel 
free to leave for home. I shall be glad when the 
time comes." The work was at length done. His 
Hercules and Alcestis had received the last touches, 
and he was now free to say farewell to Rome in 
closing a long and successful career. But he was 
not to see the homeland. In the gladness he expe- 
rienced in the completion of his task, he certainly 
had a great joy; but evidently his strength was 
exhausted. He had loosed the silver cord, and he 
died suddenly, perhaps unexpectedly, in Rome, 
December 6, 19 13. In the American cemetery in 
Rome, where he had buried his two wives, and 
where he had erected a replica of his Angel of the 
Resurrection, there he now was buried also. 

Perhaps nothing was more 'characteristic of Mr. 
Simmons than his interest in astrology, palmistry, 
spiritualism, materializations, theosophy, in fact, 
whatever had reference to old thought or new 
thought concerning the mysteries of life into which 
he desired to penetrate. His conversation and his 

141 



letters indicated how much his mind for a long time 
had been active with reference to such matters. 
That there was a future life he had no doubt. His 
Angel of the Resurrection was a declaration of his 
faith. Is it not here, also, that we find the source 
of Mr. Simmons' strong, abiding interest in his work 
on Hercules and Alcestis during the years follow- 
ing the death of his wife? On it he toiled, in sum- 
mer and winter, up to the limit of his strength, with 
an irrepressible desire to complete his task worthily. 
The story is that of Euripides in one of his Greek 
tragedies, written between four and five centuries 
before the Christian era. It had been decreed by 
the Fates — so runs the story — that Admetus, king 
of Pherae, in southern Thessaly, should die. Apollo, 
who had been befriended by Admetus, obtained a 
reprieve for the king, provided someone could be 
found to take his place. Search, however, was 
unavailing, and in this extremity, Alcestis, the 
young and lovely wife of the king, notwithstanding 
the efforts of Admetus to save her, volunteered as a 
substitute for her husband, and the stroke of the 
Fates fell upon her. Following her death Hercules 
arrives at the king's palace and seeks hospitality, 
not knowing that the palace is in mourning because 
of the death of Alcestis. When he learns who it is 
that has died, Hercules resolves to bring her back 
to life. In this he is successful, and it is his 
victory that Mr. Simmons sought to represent in his 

142 



Hercules and Alcestis. Of giant form, the strong 
man is standing by the side of the uplifted and 
sitting Alcestis. All his powers — body, soul and 
spirit — are engaged in the mighty effort. Nothing 
is withheld, so intent is Hercules upon victory. 
Look now at Alcestis. Already she is wonderingly 
gazing up into the face of her deliverer, while in 
her own face returning life is seen making its way 
once more through familiar channels and gratefully 
meaning the words which as yet she cannot speak. 
If in the figure of Hercules the artist has given 
expression to the Herculean purpose which the case 
of Alcestis demanded, so in the upturned glowing 
face of Alcestis he has told the story of assured 
victory. In other words, as over his dead Mr. 
Simmons placed his Angel of the Resurrection, so 
now in his Hercules and Alcestis, his last all- 
absorbing task, he takes up the thought of the 
apostle Paul in his memorable challenge, "O death, 
where is now thy sting? O grave, where is now 
thy victory ? " 

A copy of Mr. Simmons' will at length reached 
this country. In it he bequeathed to Augustine 
Simmons, of North Anson, Maine, ^10,000 and an 
annuity of $1,000; to Mr. Frank L. Dingley, of 
Lewiston, Maine, his early, life-long friend, $5,000; 
to Colby College a sum sufficient to found a schol- 
arship in honor of George Knox, to be called "The 
Knox Scholarship" ; and the balance of his property 

143 



to the city of Portland. The will, which was signed 
"Rome, April, 1913, Franklin Simmons," was wholly 
in Mr. Simmons' handwriting. When it was offered 
for probate in the Probate Court of Cumberland 
County, Maine, it was received and allowed by that 
court, July 30, 1914. Objections, however, were 
made by relatives of Mr. Simmons, who claimed, 
among other matters, that the will was not executed 
according to law in that there was no day of the 
month mentioned in the date on the will. As the 
result of the hearing upon the objection thus raised, 
a compromise was arranged between the estate and 
the contestants whereby the sum of $25,000 was 
paid to the latter in full settlement of their claims. 
The residue of the estate given to the city of 
Portland (after payment of all legacies, debts and 
expenses of administration) consisted of cash, stocks 
and bonds of the appraised value of $45,258.09, and 
certain statuary and works of the appraised value 
of $ 1 1 ,800. 

After the compromise with the heirs was con- 
firmed, Augustine Simmons, of North Anson, and 
Carroll S. Chaplin, city solicitor of Portland, were 
appointed administrators of the will. Mr. Simmons 
died October 24, 19 17. On account of the World 
War and court proceedings with reference to Mr. 
Simmons' will, all of the statuary and studio equip- 
ment remained in Rome as he left them until 1917, 
when they were placed in storage in a fireproof 

144 



garage. In the spring of 1920, Mr. Chaplin went 
to Rome for the settlement of matters relating to 
the Simmons' estate. There he had proper inscrip- 
tions carved upon the monument over the grave of 
Mr. Simmons, placed the cemetery lot and monu- 
ment in perpetual care, and shipped the remaining 
statuary and works of art to Portland. 

For some time after the arrival of these art 
bequests, the city government of Portland was in 
doubt as to the best method for the disposition of 
Mr. Simmons' gifts. At length a special committee 
was appointed to consider the matter. This com- 
mittee recommended, and the city council decided, 
that the best disposition that could be made of both 
the statuary and pecuniary legacy was to hand them 
over to the Portland Society of Art. This was 
done in November, 192 1, under certain conditions 
to which the Society of Art agreed. This collection 
includes four bronzes — Galatea, Sybil, Paris and 
Washington at Valley Forge ; seven works in mar- 
ble— The Promised Land, The Mother of Moses, 
Medusa, Penelope, General Grant, bust of Franklin 
Simmons' mother, and vase with doves ; also three 
plaster casts — Hercules and Alcestis, bust of 
Franklin Simmons, and the bust of the second Mrs. 
Simmons. The collection is known as "The Frank- 
lin Simmons Memorial." The Society of Art is 
also in possession of two other works by Mr. Sim- 
mons — a marble bust of Samuel E. Spring, of Port- 
10 145 



land, and a medallion portrait (made in the summer 
of 1905) of Rev. John Carroll Perkins, D. D., of 
Seattle, Washington, formerly pastor of the First 
Parish Church, Portland. The Maine Historical 
Society has also in its care such works by Mr. 
Simmons as his bust of John B. Brown in marble, 
as already mentioned, also plaster busts of Hannibal 
Hamlin and Harrison B. Brown. Also, in the 
Greenleaf Law Library, Portland, there is a bust in 
marble of William H. Clifford, of Portland, made by 
Mr. Simmons in 1885. It is said also that he made 
a bust in marble of Payson Tucker, formerly mana- 
ger of the Maine Central Railroad, but as yet I have 
not been able to locate it. It is said that Mr. Sim- 
mons is represented in this country by a hundred 
busts, either in marble or plaster. 

In Washington, beside works already mentioned, 
Mr. Simmons is represented by a statue of Governor 
Francis H. Pierpont in Statuary Hall, and the por- 
trait busts of Vice-Presidents Hamlin, Stevenson 
and Fairbanks in the Senate wing. 

It should be added that Mr. Simmons was thrice 
decorated by the king of Italy; his last decoration 
being Commendatore of the crown of Italy. In 
1888, Bowdoin College conferred upon Mr. Sim- 
mons the honorary degree of Master of Arts. 

From this brief review of the life of Franklin 
Simmons two traits in his character connected with 
his life-work stand out very prominently. In the 

146 



first place, a definite aim as to what he would be 
and do strongly characterized him throughout his 
career. He wanted to be a sculptor before he had 
seen a bust or a statue. There was no art school 
in Maine in his boyhood. No teacher was available. 
He began to model figures in clay because this was 
the thing he wanted to do. From such a begin- 
ning, he made his way to Portland and Boston ; 
and having seen busts and statues he wanted to 
make busts and statues. Henceforth, until his 
death, it was as if he had said, "This one thing I 
do!" 

A tireless energy, also, characterized Mr. Sim- 
mons. It mastered him from first to last. No 
obstacles hindered or discouraged him. No allure- 
ments, however attractive, could divert him from 
the work to which he had put his hands. His 
pleasure he found in his art. Steadily, energeti- 
cally, he kept at his task. In failing health, under 
the oppressive heat of summer in Rome, the indom- 
itable spirit that had characterized him from boyhood 
was still his master. His Hercules and Alcestis 
must be carried forward to completion; and when 
this was accomplished, but not till then, did the 
tired, weary sculptor rest from his labors. 



147 



CENTENNIAL 



OF THE 



MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



APRIL 11, 1922 



I. The Maine Historical Society in Bruns- 
wick, 

By President Kenneth C. M. Sills, 
OF BowDoiN College. 

II. The Maine Historical Society at Port- 
land. 

By Hon. Augustus F. Moulton, op 
Portland. 



Portland, 1922. 



FOREWORD. 

The organization of the Maine Historical Society in 1822 
followed closely upon the separation of what was once the 
Province of Maine from what had long been known as the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In two carefully pre- 
pared papers a review of the first century of the Society's 
work is herewith presented. The meeting for this purpose 
was held at three o'clock in the afternoon of April 11, 1922, 
in the hall of the Library Building on what was once the 
Longfellow property in Portland. Although the weather 
was somewhat unfavorable, the audience was large, and 
both Dr. Sills and Mr. Moulton had deeply interested and 
most appreciative hearers. At the close of these literary 
services each speaker received a very hearty vote of thanks. 

Following this vote, and recalling an allusion in Dr. Sills' 
paper to Hon. John A. Poor's address in 1859 on "English 
Colonization in America," the president of the society. 
Dr. Burrage, said that the more he became acquainted 
with Mr. Poor's work in connection with the Maine His- 
torical Society the more he was impressed with the value 
of the services rendered by Mr. Poor. His range of vision 
naturally was limited. Very largely the sources of infor- 
mation as to the beginnings of our Maine history were not 
here then. Accordingly some of the conclusions in his his- 
torical papers would not now be accepted. But, more than 

151 



any of his associates, he seemed to be impressed with the 
value and therefore the importance of original sources in 
historical work. His papers in their footnotes show a firm 
grasp upon such sources as were within his reach. Also, 
too, Mr. Poor sought to interest the people of Maine in the 
history of their state. He was by far the most inspiring 
personality and indefatigable worker among his associates 
in the society. To him especially was due the great Pop- 
ham celebration at the mouth of the Kennebec, August 29, 
1862, the first of our memorable field-days. While the 
society then had other members of great personal worth 
and large attainments, there was only one John A. Poor, 
and we do well to honor his memory. 

Following these more formal proceedings, the members 
of the society and their guests assembled in the library 
below, where coffee and cakes were served, and where, 
among flowers and many interesting historical treasures, an 
opportunity was afforded for a social hour, with greetings 
and felicitations appropriate to the occasion. 

The second centennial of the Maine Historical Society is 
far away. May it find its members in possession of its 
historic property and of historical treasures of much greater 
interest and value than are now in the society's care ; also 
with larger opportunities for usefulness in their important 
work ! 



152 



THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
IN BRUNSWICK. 

1822 -1880 



By Kenneth C. M. Sii,i.s, LL. D. 

In his famous preface, Livy, the Roman histo- 
rian, tells us that in reading history everyone should 
consider these points: What life and manners were 
in ancient times; and through what men and by 
what means, both in peace and in war, empire 
was acquired and extended. He then goes on : 
" This it is which is particularly salutary and 
profitable in the study of history, that you behold 
instances of every variety of conduct displayed as 
on a conspicuous monument, that thence you may 
select for yourself and for your country that which 
you may imitate; thence note what is shameful in 
the undertaking and shameful in the result which 
you may avoid." 

It is well to keep these precepts in mind as we 
survey, this afternoon, the origins of the Maine His- 
torical Society and its progress until it forsook the 
quiet of the college of the pines for the din of the 
Forest City. We do not, to be sure, like the 

155 



Romans, trace our august beginnings to the activ- 
ity of the gods or of Mars in particular ; but the 
society did owe its origin to that greater culture and 
greater degree of leisure which marked the passing 
of a pioneer, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
District, into the urbane and beloved state of Maine. 
Indeed, before 1820 very few works, either historical 
or literary, had been published in our state with the 
exception of sermons and occasional addresses which 
had then a very great popularity. Among the more 
notable pamphlets or essays were some evidently of 
the propagandist type designed to promote immi- 
gration into the district. There were also a few 
volumes on Maine contributed to the Massachusetts 
Historical Collections. In 1795 appeared "The 
History of Maine," by General Sullivan, a valuable 
historical work. From 1790 to 1820 there were 
naturally many pamphlets published on the subject 
of separation, but the number of books written for 
purely literary or historical purposes can easily be 
counted on the fingers of one hand. 

When Maine became a state, in 1820, her people 
very naturally desired, not only from local pride but 
also from other even more praiseworthy motives, to 
establish a reputation for interest in learning and 
culture. It is one of the excellent fruits of inde- 
pendence that a state wishing to stand by itself, as 
the name implies, is ambitious to encourage not 
only industry but literature and the arts, as a sign 

156 



that the people are able to look after their own 
higher interests. Consequently we find the first 
Legislature, which met here in the city of Portland 
in the month of May, 1820, giving grants to Bow- 
doin College and Waterville College, establishing 
the Medical School of Maine, and in general adopt- 
ing what was for those days a liberal policy toward 
education. In 182 1 the Maine Medical Society 
was incorporated. 

On February 4, 1822, a bill to incorporate the 
Maine Historical Society was passed in the House 
of Representatives, and the following day was passed 
in the Senate and signed by the governor, Albion 
K. Parris. The act of incorporation contains the 
names of forty-nine corporate members, headed by 
William Allen, then president of Bowdoin College, 
and Albion K. Parris, governor of Maine. The 
list is a roster of names famous in the history of our 
state. You may find there a Mellen, a Preble, a 
Payson, a Wingate, a Longfellow, a King, a Lincoln, 
a Vaughan, a Weston, a Carey, a Robert Hallowell 
Gardiner, a Peleg Sprague, a Packard, an Abbott, 
a Williamson, a Sewall, a Shepley and a Dana. 
The list includes three who were, at one time or 
another, chief justices of our supreme court and sev- 
eral who became federal judges. Six of the incor- 
porators later became presidents of this society: 
Albion K. Parris, William Allen, Ichabod Nichols, 
Stephen Longfellow, Prentiss Mellen and Robert 

157 



H. Gardiner. From 1822 to 1856, without a break, 
the destinies of the society were guided by those 
who were interested in, and indeed present at, its 
birth. The second section of the act of incorpora- 
tion provided that the annual meeting of the society 
should be held at Bowdoin College on the Tuesday 
next preceding the annual commencement ; but in 
1828 this section was repealed, and the society was 
authorized to hold their annual meeting and other 
meetings at such times and places as it may think 
proper. 

The first meeting of the society was held at Port- 
land just one hundred years ago to-day, April 11, 
1822. There were present Governor Parris, Chief 
Justice Mellen, Judge Preble, the Rev. Ichabod 
Nichols, the Rev. Edward Payson, Judge Ware, the 
Rev. J. Coggswell and Edward Russell. In the 
Eastern Argus, then a weekly newspaper, for April 
1 6th of that year there is a brief account of this 
meeting. It was held in the Senate Chamber (in 
other accounts the Council Chamber) and the fol- 
lowing ofiRcers were elected: President, Albion K. 
Parris, the governor of Maine ; recording secretary, 
Benjamin Hadley ; corresponding secretary, Edward 
Russell ; treasurer, Prentiss Mellen ; librarian, the 
Rev. Edward Payson. 

At this meeting a committee was appointed to 
draw up by-laws to report at the annual meeting in 
Brunswick the next August, commencement then 

158 



being at that time of the year. The newspaper 
notice requests: "Gentlemen in possession of books, 
pamphlets and manuscripts [evidently ladies in those 
days were gallantly supposed not to be interested in 
erudition] who are disposed to place them in a situ- 
ation to be useful to the future historian, are invited 
to send them to the librarian." 

Yet august as the founding of the society was, 
with the governor its president and the chief justice 
its treasurer, in its early years it had the usual trials 
and struggles. Even less interest than is the case 
to-day was taken in historical studies. The society 
had to rely for its existence on annual assessments ; 
it had no wealthy patrons and no funds for publica- 
tions. Indeed, until 183 1 the society seems to have 
had but a perfunctory existence. Yet we should 
not withhold credit from those who kept the society 
together and labored in its behalf. Governor Parris 
held the office of president but one year and was 
succeeded by President William Allen, of Bowdoin 
College, who presided from 1823 until 1828. Pres- 
ident Allen was a good deal of a scholar and was 
particularly interested in philology and history. 
Graduating from Harvard College in the celebrated 
class of 1802, he was connected with that institution 
for some years, during which he published, in 1809, 
an "American Biographical and Historical Diction- 
ary." The third edition of this encyclopedic work, 
printed in 1837, contained more than seven thou- 

159 



sand biographical notices — a monument to the pres- 
ident's industry, if not to his discretion. 

The close connection between Bowdoin College 
and the Maine Historical Society is shown in the 
early officers. Professor Samuel P. Newman was 
corresponding secretary in 1828 and was succeeded 
in 1829 by Professor Parker Cleaveland, who held 
that office until 1858. John McKeen, who was an 
overseer of Bowdoin for many years, was treasurer 
of the Historical Society from 1836 to 1858. 
Parker Cleaveland was librarian from 1823 to 1829; 
the office was held also by Samuel P. Newman from 
1829 to 1834; by Henry W. Longfellow in 1834; 
and by Alpheus S. Packard in 1835. 

In the early period of its history the society also 
owed much to its third president, the Rev. Ichabod 
Nichols, 1828 to 1834, the very scholarly minister 
of the First Parish Church of Portland, said by 
William Willis to be "one of the best cultivated 
and universal scholars that Maine has cherished in 
her bosom." Small wonder is it, then, that the same 
historian informs us: "From excess of thought and 
the fulness of his mind his sermons often rose above 
the level of the common apprehension and often 
required close attention to follow the course of his 
reasoning and argument." But be it remembered 
those were days of the stalwart sermon tasters. 
Dr. Nichols was greatly interested in the Histori- 



160 



cal Society and presided with distinction at its 



meetnigs. 



It was during Dr. Nichols' administration, in 
183 1, that the first volume of the Maine Historical 
Collections appeared. The book has a scholarly 
and philosophical preface from the classical pen of 
Judge Ware. "We are told," he writes, "that 
Americans love rather to tell of what they will do 
than of what they have done, and boast more of 
what their posterity will be than of what their an- 
cestors have been" ; and he goes on to analyze the 
reasons why historical research was never popular in 
a youthful nation. The main article in the volume 
is appropriately the "History of Portland from its 
First Settlement with Notices of the Neighboring 
Towns and of the Changes in Government in 
Maine," by William Willis. The volume also con- 
tains brief accounts of towns, particularly Limerick 
and Wells, some petitions of the inhabitants of 
Maine to Cromwell and Charles the Second, and 
the original letters of Benedict Arnold, written in 
1775 while on his expedition through Maine, 
accompanied by an account of the expedition writ- 
ten by President Allen, of Bowdoin. The volume 
was thus a very valuable contribution, not only to 
local but to American history, and was well received. 

The second volume of the Collections appeared 
in 1847; the third, in 1853; the fourth, in 1856; 
the fifth, in 1857; the sixth, in 1859; the Popham 

11 161 



Memorial Volume, in 1863; the seventh volume of 
the Collections, in 1876; and the eighth, in 188 1. 
I give these volumes in chronological sequence to 
indicate the periods in which there seemed to be 
the most interest in publication, which was in the 
fifties ; while, as we might expect, there was a 
decided falling off in the time of the Civil War 
and the years subsequent to it. 

I confess that I have not read these volumes from 
cover to cover; but even a cursory survey of them 
shows how rich they are in historical material and 
how devoted to real scholarly research were some 
of our predecessors. In the Collections appear 
some of the addresses delivered from time to time 
by the president of the society. One by William 
Willis, given at Augusta, February 21, 1855, gives 
an interesting account of the origins and early his- 
tory of the society, from which I have drawn much 
for this paper. The conclusion, in the somewhat 
stately style of the period, will bear quoting to-day : 
"Maine is moving forward with rapid strides to a 
distinguished station among the orbs of our polit- 
ical constellation. Her extent of territory, her rich 
soil, her long line of seacoast, her large and numer- 
ous rivers, intersecting her whole territory; her 
various valuable and permanent resources, and last 
and best, the indomitable energy, enterprise and 
ingenuity of her children — all give token of sure 
and steady progress to eminence and wealth — not 

162 



to the wealth, I trust, which leads to decay, else 
would I none of it. Let her be true to her high 
destiny ; let her lay broadly and deeply the founda- 
tions of her empire, in general education and a 
faithful administration of civil functions, and a firm 
adherence, in all classes, to probity, temperance and 
good faith, and her prosperity will be as solid and 
enduring as it will be rapid and sure." 

Another address of unusual interest, likewise 
from the pen of William Willis, was given at a 
meeting of the society in Augusta, March 5, 1857. 
This contained biographical notices of the six first 
presidents of the society: Governor Parris, 1822; 
President Allen, 1823-1828; the Rev. Ichabod 
Nichols, 1828-1834; Stephen Longfellow, the father 
of the poet, 1834; Chief Justice Prentiss Mellen, 
1835-1840; and Robert Hallowell Gardiner, 1840- 
1856. These sketches abound in lively anecdote 
and skillful delineation of character and are in 
themselves no mean contribution to the history of 
our state, for after all it is men that make a com- 
monwealth, and an account of these broad-minded 
and sturdy progenitors of this society has all the 
freshness that vivid personality ever brings forth. 

In 1833 appeared the famous history of the state 
of Maine, from its first discovery to the separation 
in 1820, by William D. Williamson. He was an 
original member of the society and a most indefati- 
gable historian. Undoubtedly his labors were in- 

163 



spired in no small degree by the earlier publications 
of the society ; they, in turn, awakened an intense 
interest in local history. From 1833 to 1858 no 
less than fifteen valuable historical works were 
published, nearly all of them by members of the 
Historical Society. There was then far more inter- 
est in local history than there is to-day; indeed, it 
is a great pity that the local historian, the man who 
knows all about the traditions and events and prog- 
ress of his home town, is in Maine almost as extinct 
as the dodo. Our society, in this its centennial 
year, could do no more worthy service than to help 
to revive interest in local history, and in particular 
the writing of the history of the last half century. 
To be sure, we have a valuable work in Dr. Louis 
Hatch's "History of Maine" ; but nearly every one of 
our town histories needs a supplement or extension. 
And few seem to care that so much that has hap- 
pened in Maine since 1850 has not been recorded 
and never will be unless more men like the early 
members of this society arise to tell of the past. 

In 1849 the society received from the state the 
grant of half a township, which, sold for $6,000, 
constituted a permanent fund, the income of which 
in those beneficent days was enough to bring out 
a volume of Proceedings and Collections from time 
to time. From 1856 to 1865 William Willis was 
the president of the society, and during his regime, 
as I have shown, there was a good deal of historical 

164 



productivity. In 1863, ^.t the request of the society, 
the state appropriated $400 to procure copies of 
documents in the British Museum relating to the 
early history of Maine. 

In Volume VI of the Collections, published at 
Portland in 1859, there is an extended account of 
the proceedings of the society for that year. Per- 
haps a brief summary will convey something of the 
character of the meetings sixty years ago. The 
first meeting for the year 1859 was held at Augusta, 
January 19th. Several papers on historical themes 
were contributed by Joseph Williamson, Esq., of 
Belfast. In the afternoon, we read, a public meet- 
ing was held at the courthouse, at which a paper 
was read by Judge Pierce, of Gardiner, on the life 
of Major Archelaus Lewis, a Revolutionary hero. 
The president of the society, William Willis, pro- 
duced some original letters of Lafayette, Talley- 
rand, Thomas Paine and other worthies, and then 
read some biographical sketches of deceased mem- 
bers. The Rev. Mr. Ballard, of Brunswick, read a 
valuable paper on the Abnaki Indians, and the Rev. 
Dr. Sheldon, of Bath, read an article on St. George's. 
In the evening President Woods, of Bowdoin, pro- 
nounced a eulogy on the late lamented Parker 
Cleaveland; the Rev. Mr. Ballard read another 
paper on the Abnaki Indians; the president of the 
society closed the meeting by reading a review of a 
volume published by the Hon. George Folsom, of 

165 



New York, on documents relating to Maine found 
in the English state offices. No wonder that the 
secretary recorded that the meeting was not only 
very interesting but protracted. 

Nothing daunted, the society met again in Port- 
land, June 29th. The president delivered eulogies 
on deceased members. The Rev. Mr. Ballard, of 
Brunswick, followed with an account of the history 
of the Episcopal Church in Maine ; Mr. Robert 
Hallowell Gardiner read a paper on Benjamin 
Vaughan ; the Rev. David Cushman, of Bath, again 
turned up to discuss the disputed locality of Captain 
George Waymouth's voyage ; Mr. John L. Locke, 
of Camden, gave an account of General Waldo's 
proclamation in Germany ; Professor Packard read 
an interesting letter from Albert Gallatin; the pres- 
ident read a paper on the conflicting claims of the 
French and English in Acadia ; Professor Packard, 
with the assistance of John Marshall Brown, then 
an undergraduate in Bowdoin College, exhibited 
specimens and explained and read a paper by Pro- 
fessor Chadbourne about the celebrated deposit of 
oyster shells at Damariscotta. The Hon. Phineas 
Barnes presented a proposal for a union with the 
Portland Natural History Society, a proposition 
which led to an animated discussion. What a relief 
to read: "The afternoon meeting was adjourned to 
the evening, and a social levee of the members was 
held at the mansion of the president." 

166 



In the evening, John A. Poor, Esq., read a paper 
on "English Colonization in America," in which he 
claimed for Sir Ferdinando Gorges the honor of 
English colonization on this continent and disputed 
the claims of the Massachusetts historians in behalf 
of the Pilgrims and Puritans. Rufus K. Sewall, Esq., 
then read an interesting paper on the historical 
remains at Sheepscot and Sagadahoc. The Rev. 
Mr. Ballard again spoke of the Abnaki Indians. 
We are not surprised to read in the official minutes : 
"The society adjourned late in the evening." 

But 1859 is not finished. On August 4th the 
annual meeting was held at Brunswick. Of course 
the committee on the revision of by-laws reported, 
and naturally, after long discussion and amendments 
( i. e., long amendments), they were adopted. At 
eleven o'clock, the society proceeded to the church 
and listened to a profound and interesting discourse 
on the methods and laws of history from the Rev. Dr. 
Hedge, of Brookline, Mass. This learned produc. 
tion, we read, was a fitting and beautiful close of 
the annual transactions of the society, and we agree 
with the scribe that the space of the society was, in 
1859, filled by deeds, not lingering years. In the 
sweet language of Ovid, 

"Aclis aevuin implet, non segnibus annis.'"' 

There was surely nothing slow about that year. 

It is perhaps no surprise to the modern reader to 
turn to the next volume, printed in 1876, and to read : 

167 



"The long interval since the last issue of our Col- 
lections has been occasioned by various circum- 
stances." The Civil War was undoubtedly one 
reason ; the deaths of several who were vitally inter- 
ested in the society left vacancies which the younger 
generation did not quickly fill. Nevertheless, dur- 
ing all these years from 1859 to 1876, besides the 
regular annual meetings each year save one, special 
meetings were held at Augusta, Bath and Portland. 
Furthermore, the society went afield and met from 
time to time at Damariscotta, Pemaquid, York and 
Monhegan. Ours is a virtuous society, but it has 
had its cakes and ale. During these years there is 
also some activity to record. In 1859 the office of 
vice-president was instituted, and Bishop Burgess 
elected, continuing therein until his death, in 1866. 
In 1867 the state contracted with the society for an 
annual volume in a series of volumes containing the 
earliest documents, charters and other state papers 
from the archives of foreign countries illustrating 
the history of Maine. Dr. Leonard Woods, who, in 
1866, had resigned the presidency of Bowdoin Col- 
lege after a brilliant administration, was put in 
charge of the work in Europe, and engaged in his- 
orical researches until, in January, 1874, his fine 
library was destroyed by fire, where a large part of 
his books and papers perished. Happily the famous 
Hakluyt manuscript was elsewhere. The Collec- 
tions published in 1859, 1876 and 1881 contain 

168 



many interesting eulogies. It is undoubtedly the 
fashion nowadays to minimize the importance of 
the eulogy, although the two biographical addresses 
lately given by the president of this society have 
been very well received. Biography is, after all, one 
of the most attractive of the handmaidens that 
attend history, and to-day, as with our grandfathers, 
"The proper study of mankind is man." Such 
eulogies as those by President Woods on Parker 
Cleaveland ; by Charles Carroll Everett on President 
Woods; and by Robert Hallowell Gardiner on 
Benjamin Vaughan, are works of permanent worth, 
and in themselves justify all the literary activity of 
our society. 

The other day I spent a few hours in going over 
the records of the Maine Historical Society from 
1822 to 1880. It was not at all a wearisome task; 
for on nearly every page there appeared the name 
of someone celebrated in the annals of state or col- 
lege. The annual meetings have been held for the 
most part in Brunswick. The first was on August 
20, 1822, and who knows but that the last may be 
on June 20, 1922? Apparently there was no meet- 
ing in 1826; and there are no records of meetings 
from 1 84 1 to 1846. From 1830 to 1836 the annual 
meetings were held in Portland. Sometimes we are 
discouraged at light attendance and slight interest. 
It is salutary to reflect that some years the society 
could not get enough members to meet at all, and 

169 



that in 1824 the society voted that the collection of 
the annual tax be suspended until further notice. 
In 1836 the secretary, the Rev. Asa Cummings, 
writes: "The hour of meeting having arrived the 
secretary stood alone and continued standing till 
he despaired of being met by any other member of 
the society, when he adjourned the meeting." The 
death of Chief Justice Prentiss Mellen was evidently 
a great blow to the society. He was president 
from 1834 until his death, December 31, 1840; no 
meeting was held until September 2, 1846, when 
Robert Hallowell Gardiner became president. He 
served until 1856; then came William Willis, 1856- 
1864; Edward E. Bourne, 1864-1873; and James 
W. Bradbury, 1874- 1889. 

One of the features of the society from 1855 to 
187 1 was a midwinter meeting, held annually with 
the exception of 1866, in Augusta in January or 
February. These meetings seem to have been well 
attended and certainly did much to popularize (if I 
may use that horrid word) the cause of the society 
throughout the state. In 1873 and 1874 such a 
meeting was held at Bath, and in 1877 there was 
an elegant field day at Wiscasset. In the period 
under review, 182 2- 1880, only nineteen meetings 
were held in Portland, while sixteen were convened 
in Augusta and fifty-three in Brunswick. That 
those were hardy days is shown by the hour of the 
annual meeting at the college town, 8.00 A. M.! 

170 



During the early years the collections of books, 
curiosities and objects of historical interest were 
necessarily small. But by 1847 it was necessary to 
provide suitable quarters, and a committee was 
appointed for that purpose. Early in the fifties the 
college assigned a room in back of the chapel for the 
use of the society. In i860, we read that this room 
was fitted up with glass cases and that the books 
had been transferred thither from the college library. 
For some years these quarters seemed, if not com- 
modious, at least adequate. But in 1876 Mr. John 
Marshall Brown, of Portland, offered a resolution to 
remove the collections to Portland. The motion 
had the usual fate of too eager reform and was laid 
on the table, expense being the chief objection 
raised. But the question would not down; and 
after four years of agitation a special meeting was 
held at Brunswick, November 23, 1880, to consider 
a very definite proposition to accept an offer from 
the city government of Portland to occupy a room 
in the City Building. There was an interesting 
debate. Some opposed removal to Portland on the 
ground that it would localize interest in the society ; 
others argued that the incorporators, after delibera- 
tion, fixed on Brunswick, with its college, as the most 
suitable place for it ; "as the literary gentlemen of 
the state were accustomed to repair thither at its 
annual commencement." The resolve to remove 



171 



carried by a vote of i6 yea and 9 nay; and the 
committee of removal consisted of Mr. James 
Phinney Baxter (who had, with our revered presi- 
dent, Dr. Burrage, become a member of the society 
in 1878), General John Marshall Brown and Mr. 
Lewis Pierce. With the appointment of that com- 
mittee this paper properly ends. 

I cannot, however, forbear taxing your patience 
for a brief space more to point out how many things 
of interest are revealed as one looks over the years 
from 1822 to 1880. An historical society is not in 
itself a very exciting body. But unquestionably 
ours has rendered some service to the state. The 
two things that have impressed me most in review- 
ing our history have been the quality of the men 
who have been connected with its destinies, and 
the real amount of good, sound, scholarly work pro- 
duced by men who were not primarily scholars, but 
whose earlier training and devotion to truth gave 
them sound, scholarly instincts. It is true that we 
have not the leisure of our fathers and grandfathers. 
Life grows daily more complex. But we can at 
least envy them if we cannot emulate their excellent 
example. And as we review the struggles of those 
early years and the volumes produced under many 
difficulties it is not altogether reassuring to remem- 
ber that we have published no volume of proceed- 
ings or of documentary collections since 19 16. 



172 



There is excellent reading, even for the amateur, 
in many of those early books ; let us hope that 
our generation may leave to posterity work as 
creditable. 



173 



THE MAINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
AT PORTLAND. 

By Hon. Augustus F. Moulton. 



The Maine Historical Society, from the time of 
the granting of its charter in 1822, had close con- 
nection with Bowdoin College. Its oiificial location 
and its collections and library were, during all of its 
earlier years, at Brunswick. The annual meetings 
of the society were almost an integral part of the 
college commencements. It does not appear that 
any effort was made to effect a change until after 
1870. About that time it began to be suggested 
that connection so close with one college was likely 
to arouse jealousy upon the part of the other col- 
leges in the state, whose co-operation was earnestly 
desired, and also that an association whose pur- 
poses were expressly applicable to the whole state 
ought to have an independent home of its own. 
Some. of the most active of its members were resi- 
dents of Portland and vicinity, and it was argued 
that a location in that city would be more conven- 
ient for the people of western Maine, and that even 
for the members living in the eastern part of the 

175 



state it would be almost, if not quite, as easy of 
access as the old meeting place at Brunswick. 

The first record of a movement to bring about a 
change appears when, at the annual meeting held 
July 14, 1876, General John Marshall Brown, one 
of the most earnest and active of its members, pre- 
sented a resolution having reference to the removal 
of the society from Brunswick to Portland. The 
proposal met with little favor, and the motion was 
laid on the table. The principal objection made 
was that, because of the society funds being very 
limited, the cost of removal to Portland and of 
obtaining and maintaining quarters in that place 
would be prohibitive. The work done by the soci- 
ety, notwithstanding its lack of means, as shown by 
its records and its publications, had been extraor- 
dinary in importance and shows the remarkable 
self-sacrificing efforts of its associates. 

Some Portland members continued to display 
great interest in the matter. At the annual meet- 
ing of July 12, 1878, the membership was increased 
by the addition of prominent Portland men. A 
special meeting was called and held November 23, 
1880, to consider the matter of removal, and a let- 
ter from Mayor William Senter was then presented, 
stating that he was authorized by the municipal 
officers of the city of Portland to offer, in behalf of 
the city, to the Historical Society, for their library, 
their collections and for their meetings, the free use 

176 



of the hall and anteroom in the city building lately 
vacated by the Portland Natural History Society. 
After a full discussion it was decided by a vote of 
sixteen in the aiifirmative and nine in the negative 
to make the change. It will be noted that this vote 
related only to the Historical Society in general 
terms, without reference to the holding of its annual 
meetings as specified in the charter. That was not 
necessary, since by amendment of the charter in 
1828 the society was authorized to hold the annual 
and other meetings at such time and place as they 
might deem proper. 

James P. Baxter was made chairman of a com- 
mittee appointed to take charge of and supervise 
the business incidental to the change. The matter 
was attended to so promptly and efficiently that 
February 2, 1881, the rooms in the City Building 
were in order, and on that date a special meeting of 
the society was held in the new quarters. A lease 
of the premises was tendered and accepted, and a 
vote of thanks and recognition of the generosity of 
the city was passed. The removal of the tangible 
effects was made complete, and since that time 
Portland has been the general place of occupation 
and business for everything, except that the annual 
meetings have, for the most part, been held at 
Brunswick. 

A public dinner was given at the Falmouth 
Hotel June 10, 1887, in honor of the eighty- fifth 

12 177 



birthday of Hon. James W. Bradbury, for a long 
time the efificient and devoted president of the 
society. On that occasion it was announced by 
Prof. Henry L. Chapman that Hon. James P. Bax- 
ter was about to make the city of Portland a gift of 
a public library building, and that the plans would 
provide very ample accommodations for the Maine 
Historical Society. At the annual meeting held 
June 2 1, 1887, it was voted that the society accept 
Mr. Baxter's gift of rooms in the library building 
with grateful thanks. The building was in due 
course completed, and on February 22, 1889, the 
first meeting, a special one largely attended, was 
held there in what is now the reference room of the 
library. 

The society continued to occupy the conspicuous 
historical rooms in the public library building for 
three years. The municipal library and its patron- 
age increased rapidly and the need of more space 
grew pressing. The city, in 1892, made a proposi- 
tion to the society to exchange the possession of the 
historical rooms upon the first floor of the building 
for the larger hall and anteroom upon the second 
floor. The terms offered were attractive, and the 
society voted to accept the new quarters and sur- 
render the old, in accordance with the proposi- 
tion submitted. The removal was made under the 
supervision of Philip H. Brown, and for a consider- 
able period this abiding place, named Baxter Hall, 

178 



with lecture room and library, was continued in 
occupation. 

At a meeting held January 25, 1901, Lewis 
Pierce, Esq., was present and made announcement 
that Anne Longfellow Pierce, a sister of Longfellow 
the poet, was desirous to befriend the Historical 
Society by making a gift to it of the old Wadsworth- 
Longfellow homestead on Congress Street, to be 
owned and occupied after her decease as its regular 
and permanent establishment. The place offered 
was itself very valuable. The location was con- 
venient and it was in every way desirable. The 
gift was accepted with much appreciation, and by 
deed of conveyance, dated April 27, 1895, M^^- 
Pierce transferred the property in fee to the society, 
with the reservation that the donor should retain 
for herself the use and occupation of the homestead 
during her lifetime, and that it should thereafter be 
held and maintained for the use of the society and 
as a memorial building. Baxter Hall continued to 
be the headquarters of the association until after 
the decease of Mrs. Pierce, which occurred in 1901. 

The Baxter deed of gift to the city as trustee con- 
tained the provision that the Historical Society 
should have the free use of the quarters furnished 
in the public library building so long as it should 
choose to occupy them, but if it should become pos- 
sessed of and occupy other premises the society 
interest would thereby terminate and the entire 

179 



building revert to the city for library purposes. The 
change of location, therefore, and the acceptance of 
the very attractive proposition of Mrs. Pierce occa- 
sioned the complete sacrifice of the previous bene- 
faction of Mr. Baxter and compelled the assumption 
of new and important responsibilities connected 
with the care and ownership of an independent sit- 
uation of its own. For these reasons it is not sur- 
prising that the donation, while it was accepted 
with hearty appreciation, gave rise to misgivings 
upon the part of some as to the ability of the society 
to carry on successfully in its amplified field of 
endeavor. 

The decision having been made and the time for 
action having arrived, the practical part of the busi- 
ness became a matter for serious consideration. 
The Anne Longfellow Pierce homestead and lot, so 
generously bestowed, consisted of land with frontage 
of 66^ feet on Congress Street and 255 feet in depth, 
containing 16,093 square feet. The assessed value 
of the property in 1901 was $23,700.00, but its 
actual worth was considerably more. The Long- 
fellow family restored the interior of the mansion at 
their own expense and under their own supervision, 
and furnished funds for renovation and repair of the 
exterior. The house has proved to be a veritable 
Mecca to those who love the memory of Longfellow 
and appreciate his writings. Thousands of people 
from all parts of the world have visited and enjoyed 

180 



the home of the poet's youth, with its quaint old- 
time furnishings and attractive associations. 

The erection of the hbrary building in which we 
have met to-day was no small undertaking. A large 
committee was appointed and subscription papers 
were circulated, both in this vicinity and abroad. 
The response was generous. Substantial contribu- 
tions were made in Maine and from distant places. 
Ladies gave entertainments, enthusiasm of practical 
character was manifested, and the effort to raise 
funds met with large success. 

The financial part of the undertaking having 
reached a point where it was deemed safe to pro- 
ceed, the work itself was undertaken. Alexander 
W. Longfellow, a nephew of the poet, was selected 
as supervising architect, with Francis H. Fassett as 
assistant, and together they made the plans for the 
handsome building, so finely proportioned and spe- 
cially adapted for the purposes of the society, as we 
now behold it. The structure is two stories in 
height, with commodious basement. The whole 
construction is of most approved fireproof quality, 
with bookcases of metal. There are three series of 
bookstacks, one rising above the other, and having 
capacity for holding 30,000 volumes. The large 
room on the first floor gives space for the display of 
articles of historic interest, as well as ample room 
and accommodations for visitors. Directly off the 
library room is a spacious and most secure vault for 

181 



holding objects of special value. The main hall and 
ante room on the second floor are conveniently 
adapted for general meetings. 

The total cost of the building, as appears by the 
record, was 5^38,201.18, this being exclusive of ex- 
penditures upon the mansion. Of this amount 
$16,682.42 was raised by subscriptions, $6,518.76 
from income of the house and $15,000.00 by a cash 
loan secured upon the premises, the larger part of 
which, it must be said with regret, still remains 
unpaid. The Wadsworth-Longfellow mansion itself, 
it will be noted, is not only of great antiquarian 
value, being the first house built wholly of brick in 
Portland, but has been from the first, and still is, a 
substantial source of revenue. With much of anx- 
ious effort the new fireproof library building was at 
length completed, the Longfellow residence reno- 
vated and restored without and within, and the 
library and other properties arranged in the new 
places. For this work special credit should be given 
to Fritz H. Jordan, Henry Deering and Rev. John 
Carroll Perkins. The labor of loyalty and love 
having been accomplished, the library and home- 
stead were, on the one hundredth anniversary of the 
birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, February 
27, 1907, formally dedicated, with appropriate cere- 
monies, as the permanent, commodious and attract- 
ive home of the Maine Historical Society. 

The physical location consequent upon the re- 

182 



moval to Portland was a matter of great importance, 
but the real work, the work for which the society 
was organized, was of larger import and had not 
been neglected. Soon after the change of location, 
the membership, which had been limited to one 
hundred, was increased to two hundred, and this 
limitation was subsequently further increased to four 
hundred. Upon the decease of Hon. James W. 
Bradbury, James P. Baxter, June 25, 1889, became 
president and occupied that office continuously for 
twenty-two years, until his late and lamented decease. 
The growth of the society Collections and publi- 
cations since the time of the removal in 1880 has 
been creditable. At that time the publications 
consisted of eight printed volumes of Collections 
meaning literary contributions and records, to which 
should be added the memorial volume of the Pop- 
ham celebration of 1863, not included in its Collec- 
tions. The society library, when transferred to 
Portland, contained by estimate 11,000 bound vol- 
umes and a very numerous assortment of pamphlets, 
documents and other accumulated historical data 
not in book form. It had also a large number of 
curios and relics. Since the removal, fourteen vol- 
umes of Collections have been printed. Besides 
these, the society has been sponsor for twenty-four 
volumes of Documentary History. The last named 
volumes consist of a compilation of royal charters 
and patents relating to Maine issued by the early 

183 



officials holding authority from king and council, 
French and English, together with parliamentary 
acts and other documents, comprising nearly all of 
the official papers relating to the early settlements 
and later colonial history of Maine. This invaluable 
collection was arranged under the immediate super- 
vision of President Baxter and printed by the state. 
The present library of the society comprises 27,368 
bound volumes and a very great accumulation of 
pamphlets and rare documents, of number estimated 
to be equal to the bound volumes. Besides these 
literary productions there are arranged and displayed 
in the library rooms an assortment of portraits, 
relics and articles of colonial and historical associa- 
tion not surpassed by those of any other similar 
organization. 

The classification and numbering of the printed 
volumes of the society publications is somewhat 
confusing. The method adopted has been that of 
the Massachusetts society, by which books are num- 
bered by series, each series comprising ten volumes. 
There are series of Collections and also series of 
Documentary History. Of the Collections there 
are ten of the first series, ten of the second series 
and two of the third series, twenty-two in all. The 
Documentary histories are numbered both by series 
and by consecutive numbers. These, for some rea- 
son unexplained, begin with series two and com- 
prise, as has been said, twenty-four volumes. Some 

184 



of the Documentary volumes include copies of legal 
documents and historical papers as well. Besides 
these books there are printed pamphlets of the soci- 
ety containing full accounts of the exercises and 
papers relating to celebrations of particular events. 
It is difificult, therefore, to state the precise number 
of printed issues actually put out. Besides these 
there are manuscripts, some bound and some not in 
binding. The society has large collections of news- 
papers, such as fifty-seven volumes (183 1 to 1859) 
of the Portland Advertiser, a complete set (1837 
to 1 901) of the Portland Transcript, and others, 
besides its great assortment of pamphlets, local his- 
tories and public and private records. The expense 
of printing the Documentary series has been, for 
the most part, contributed by the state, the edito- 
rial work being done under the supervision of the 
society. 

Among the notable publications are the Trelawny 
papers (Vol. Ill of Documentary History), which 
contain the correspondence and business papers of 
Robert Trelawny, who had an early grant on the 
Spurwink River in Cape Elizabeth and Richmond 
Island and attempted to enforce also a claim to 
Machegonne, the peninsula on which Portland was 
founded by George Cleeve. These papers were " 
obtained from England by John Wingate Thornton, 
and arranged and annotated partly by him and 
partly, after his decease, by Mr. Baxter. These 

185 



relate to the Trelawny occupation within the earlier 
concession of the Province of Lygonia, which prov- 
ince comprised most of western Maine, and was 
established a second time by the English parlia- 
mentary confiscation of the greater part of Sir 
Ferdinando Gorges' Palatinate, and came to an end 
with the restoration of the English king. The 
editorial notes and references are even more inform- 
ing than the text. 

In the Documentary History series are the Farn- 
ham Papers (second series. Vols. VII and VIII), 
being a collection of documents relating to the ter- 
ritorial history of Maine, a work of immense original 
research made by Mary Frances Farnham, of the 
Oregon Historical Society and the American His- 
torical Society. This collection was presented by 
Miss Farnham and published by the society, aided 
by appropriation from the state. It includes prac- 
tically all important public acts and documents 
relating to Maine from 1603 to 1871. 

Two large volumes by Joseph Williamson, 1896, 
give a bibliography of Maine, the purpose of which 
is stated to be, "To give the full title of every book, 
pamphlet and reputable magazine article having 
reference to Maine and also all those of which the 
authors were resident within the state." These were 
printed under the auspices of the society. Mr. 
Williamson contributed also his extensive Scrap 



186 



Book, in which are rescued from oblivion many con- 
tributions to current periodicals. 

Four manuscript volumes now in the library con- 
tain the York Court records, a transcript of an 
official copy made by the state and kept in the office 
of the secretary of state in Augusta. These are of 
more than local interest, for from the time when the 
province first came under the jurisdiction of Massa- 
chusetts until 1760, Yorkshire embraced the whole 
Province of Maine. 

There are preserved in the vault the William 
Willis papers and manuscripts, being the assembled 
collections made by him during a long life devoted 
to extended research. Much of this material was 
used by Willis in his published works, and other 
parts of it will be of assistance to some future 
historian. 

The Maine Wills, consisting of an exact copy of 
all wills appearing in the York Court records from 
the earliest in 1640, were compiled with particular 
exactness by William M. Sargent, Esq., under the 
auspices of the society, authorized and assisted finan- 
cially under resolve of the state in 1887. These 
include all Maine wills from 1640 to 1760, four 
hundred and seventy-one in number. 

The eighteen volumes of York Deeds consist of 
copies of deeds found in the records of York County 
from the earliest in 1640, when the government of 
the Province of Maine was organized under the 

187 



Gorges charter. The first was compiled by John 
T. Hull under the oversight of Hobart W. Richard- 
son, the text being copied by William M. Sargent, 
Esq. This publication was made under resolve of 
the state in 1883, authorizing, with an appropriation, 
the superintendence of the work by the Maine His- 
torical Society. The compilation of nearly all of the 
subsequent volumes, after the decease of Mr. Hull 
and Mr. Sargent, was done by Leonard B. Chap- 
man. The introduction in the first volume, by 
Hobart W. Richardson, gives an account of the 
source of land titles in Maine with thoroughness 
and completeness that could hardly be surpassed 
and leaves little to be desired. This series ends 
with printed volume eighteen, published in 19 10, 
and should be completed so as to bring the record 
to 1760, when the county of York was divided into 
the three counties, York, Cumberland and Lincoln. 

The Barclay papers and the Ward Chipman 
papers, in manuscript, give particulars of the dispute 
over the northeastern boundary of Maine more 
fully than can be found elsewhere. 

The extensive and valuable library of the Maine 
branch of the Loyal Legion of the United States 
has been presented and forms a valuable part of 
the library. 

The society has also the Baxter Manuscripts, 
being a bound set of hand-written copies, English, 
French and American, obtained by Hon. James P. 

188 



Baxter. Nearly all of these have been put into 
printed form by the state and are included in the 
Documentary series referred to. 

There is also a life of General Henry Dearborn 
by his son, Henry A. S. Dearborn, in seven volumes 
of manuscript. This work is not a biography alone, 
but comprises a wide historical range. It is inter- 
esting, both for its literary value and also for the 
rare and artistic character of the writing and illu- 
minated pen work. 

These references to unpublished compilations 
comprise a part only of the more important ones, 
taken to some extent at random. Many of the 
published accounts of anniversary celebrations and 
dedicatory exercises, which include the memorial 
volume of Henry W. Longfellow's seventy-fifth 
birthday (1882), the "Tercentenary of the Voyage 
of Martin Pring" (1903), the "Tercentenary of De 
Monts Settlement at St. Croix Island" (1904), the 
"Tercentenary of Waymouth's Landing" (1905), 
the "Tercentenary of the Beginning of the Popham 
Colony" (1907) and that of the dedication of the 
monument commemorating the Maine soldiers at 
Valley Forge (1907), are noteworthy and deserve 
extended notice. The Longfellow case, presented 
by Alexander W. Longfellow, and containing a 
classified and systematically arranged mass of liter- 
ary material relating to aviation and naval history 
during the world war, forms, of itself, a remarkable 

189 



collection and should be examined rather than 
described. 

Among the relics and exhibits found in the rooms 
of the library building the Fogg collection of auto- 
graphs stands pre-eminent. This collection was 
made by Dr. John S. H. Fogg and bequeathed by 
him in his will to the society. Dr. Fogg was a 
graduate of Bowdoin College, class of 1846, and 
also of the Medical School. These comprise fifty- 
nine bound manuscript volumes and represent years 
of research and effort. Among the autographs are 
those of Ferdinand and Isabella, 1492 ; of Queen 
Elizabeth, 1591 ; of all the colonial governors, all 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence, of 
the presidents of the United States and of others, 
foreign and American, too numerous even for sug- 
gestion in brief reference. This collection was 
appraised by an expert, in the inventory of Dr. 
Fogg's estate, at the selling value of $25,000, which 
appraisal was probably far below the actual value. 
It came into the possession of the society in 1907, 
and is one of the best, if not the very best, in the 
United States. 

Other noted and invaluable relics which chiefly 
attract the attention of visitors are the strong box 
of Father Rale, taken at the capture of Norridge- 
wock in 1724, and the bell of his chapel, which 
was later discovered in its hiding place near by. 
There may be seen also the baptismal font used by 

190 



Rev. Robert Jordan, the Episcopal clergyman very 
prominent at the time of the second settlement of 
Portland and before; the clock of Governor John 
Hancock, of Revolutionary fame ; the General 
Henry Dearborn relics, and especially the bust of 
Henry W. Longfellow, which is a replica of that in 
Westminster Abbey and was presented to the 
society by the London executive committee of the 
English Longfellow Memorial fund. These remark- 
able curios and attractions cannot be enumerated 
at length and are worthy of extended examination. 

The founders and supporters of the society prior 
to the removal to Portland receive appreciative 
notice in the address of President Sills. The wor- 
thy scholars and gentlemen who then composed the 
membership continued their activities afterward. 
It is an invidious and impossible task to attempt to 
enumerate or to make to any full extent special 
mention of all those who have contributed and still 
contribute to its welfare in the later days. It seems, 
however, appropriate to name a few of the promi- 
nent ones who have served in various ways, neces- 
sarily omitting mention of others quite as worthy. 

Senator James Ware Bradbury was at all times a 
staunch and faithful supporter and advocate. He 
was a typical gentleman of the old courteous school. 
A graduate of Bowdoin in the famous class of 1825, 
having for classmates Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry 
W. Longfellow and John S. C. Abbot, and for fifty- 

191 



one years a member of the official boards of the col- 
lege, serving also in the high position of United States 
Senator from Maine, he was both a zealous promoter 
of historical research and a whole-hearted worker in 
behalf of the society. From 1874 to 1890 he filled 
with distinguished ability the office of president. 
Although he did not favor the removal, his loyal 
and helpful assistance in all ways continued, and in 
his will he left to it a substantial token of remem- 
brance. 

Hon. James Phinney Baxter became president in 
1889, as successor to Mr. Bradbury, and continued 
in the presidential office until the time of his decease, 
in 192 1. Mr. Baxter was a gentleman of ability and 
dignified courtesy, and presided at its functions to 
general acceptance. Although a man of extensive 
business affairs, he devoted much time to historical 
research and historical writing. He was not only 
president of this society, but was likewise president 
of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 
from 1899, and was a member of other historical 
and literary associations. The public library build- 
ing, in which our society had its home for some 
years, was a gift from Mr. Baxter to the city of 
Portland as trustee. In the field of historical inves- 
tigation Mr. Baxter had few equals, and his edito- 
rial and original work appears in many of our soci- 
ety publications. His most prominent work, per- 
haps, "Ferdinando Gorges and His Province of 

192 



Maine," in three volumes, a production involving 
wide research in America and England, was pub- 
lished by the Prince Society, a distinguished pri- 
vate association in Boston. His "George Cleeve of 
Casco Bay," a book of equal merit, together with 
"The Voyage of Capt. Christopher Levett," anno- 
tated by him, appear among the publications of the 
Gorges Society, a private and select organization in 
Portland. He assembled at his own expense the 
papers referred to as the Baxter Manuscripts, which 
make nineteen of the twenty-four volumes of Docu- 
mentary History of Maine, published by the state 
under the auspices of this society. Mr. Baxter's 
taste for history was his literary specialty. His own 
private historical library, lately disposed of by auc- 
tion sale, was one of the finest aggregations in the 
whole country. Mr. Baxter's long occupation of 
the highest ofifice in the society's gift, and his own 
accomplishments, long identified his name with that 
of the Maine Historical Society. 

Rev. Henry Sweetser Burrage, D. D., a graduate 
of Brown University, and also state historian of 
Maine, is now the society president. He became 
vice-president in 19 15, after the decease of Pro- 
fessor Henry L. Chapman and two years of incum- 
bency by Professor George T. Files, and has long 
been one of the pillars of the organization and one 
of the chief contributors to its advancement. It 
is no disparagement to anyone to say that in exce- 
ls 193 



utive matters he has long been the most efficient 
member. Notwithstanding the pressing require- 
ments of professional and editorial life, and the con- 
stant performance of other literary work, he has 
found time to keep a steady oversight of the soci- 
ety's affairs. His papers, addresses and writings, as 
appears by the records, have been extraordinary in 
number and quality. His books as state historian, 
"Beginnings of Colonial Maine" and "The North- 
eastern Boundary Controversy," are works of fine 
character and interest, and of lasting value. Dr. 
Burrage unquestionably ranks with the very first of 
those who have established the reputation and high 
quality of this great public utility. 

Rev. Henry O. Thayer, one of the earlier mem- 
bers, has done notable work. He has been the 
author of numerous papers and pamphlets showing 
patient investigation and singular accuracy. Among 
some of the more important are, "The Beginnings 
of Pemaquid," papers concerning various Kennebec 
localities, "Early Ministry on the Kennebec," "The 
Indian Administration of Justice," and especially his 
valuable volume entitled "The Sagadahoc Colony," 
published by the Gorges Society in 1892. 

No man in the whole career of the society did for 
it more disinterested and efficient service than Fritz 
H. Jordan, for many years its treasurer and chief 
financial manager. He was a man of capacity, 
sound judgment and lofty ideals regarding public 

194 



matters. Freely, and without thought of compen- 
sation, except such as comes from the sense of duty 
well performed, he gave to the society's affairs just 
as careful attention as he applied to his own large 
business operations. His tastes were artistic and 
soundly practical. In the erection and equipment 
of the new library building, and in its after-develop- 
ment, he was principal adviser and overseer. Per- 
sonally he was most attractive — a modest gentle- 
man of the highest type and of character unexcelled. 
The society to-day is indebted to him almost for its 
existence. By his will he bequeathed to it the 
largest financial legacy that it has received, but 
his personality and inspiring example are his best 
memorial. 

Hubbard W. Bryant was for a long time secretary 
of the society and an indefatigable helper. He was 
an ofificial of the J. B. Brown Banking Company, 
and devoted a large part of his time outside of his 
business engagements to work in behalf of the soci- 
ety. Although his activities were not of a showy 
kind, they were unselfishly bestowed and were bene- 
ficial in many ways. 

The Goolds, William Goold and Nathan Goold, 
were most valuable members. William Goold, the 
father, was an authority in historical matters, as is 
shown by his book, "Portland in the Past." Nathan 
Goold, the son, became secretary in 19 14 as suc- 
cessor of Hubbard W. Bryant. He made his head- 

195 



quarters at the library and was author of many 
papers and pamphlets. He kept in touch with the 
needs of the library and of the mansion, and the 
oversight of the two occupied most of his time. 
Nathan Goold was a walking encyclopedia of infor- 
mation, and it is unfortunate that he did not commit 
more of his historical and genealogical knowledge 
to writing. 

Among others, Henry Deering, a man of exqui- 
site taste and constant interest; Charles E. Allen, 
a man familiar with the byways of antiquarian 
research ; John Francis Sprague, historian and edi- 
tor; Leonard B. Chapman, industrious and persist- 
ent ; George C. Owen, compiler of a reference 
index that will perpetuate his name ; Alexander W. 
Longfellow, architect of the library building and 
contributor of the Alexander W. Longfellow collec- 
tions, are deserving of more particular mention than 
can be given in this brief sketch. 

Although the accomplishments of the society in 
the last thirty-three years have been important, it 
has all the time been seriously hampered by finan- 
cial limitations. Such invested funds as it has are 
for the most part made applicable by conditions 
imposed by the donors to certain special purposes. 
The demand for interest payments upon the unpaid 
portion of the funded debt has, of course, been 
imperative. It is pleasant to mention that the new 
treasurer, Walter G. Davis, has initiated a campaign 

196 



for contributions which bids fair to wipe out com- 
pletely this long standing incubus of mortgage. 
The principal monetary gifts received have been 
those from the trustees of the Joseph Walker estate, 
the Thomas B. Reed monument committee, and the 
recent bequest from Fritz H. Jordan. 

The dearth of working income has made neces- 
sary the omission for quite a long time of publica- 
tions in its series of historical papers. The last 
volume of published collections is Volume II of 
Series III, put out in 1906. Meetings have been 
held and the reading of papers kept up, due very 
much to the persistent energy of Dr. Burrage. No 
period has produced papers of greater interest. 
Copies for publication have been regularly requested, 
and considerable matter of consequence is now on 
hand available for printing. Considerable also, it 
must be said with regret, has not been so left, 
because the authors were aware that such material 
could only be kept on the file for indefinite custody. 
There are few places where an endowment would 
be productive of more lasting good than here. 

The society furnishes and keeps constantly open 
a free public library, which is consulted daily by 
students and interested parties from far and near. 
Besides its books upon historical topics, it has many 
useful reference works, and also a large and fine 
genealogical collection, giving the descent of many 
families. It has also a rare assortment of town and 

197 



local histories and scrap-book collections relating 
to current events, such as can be found nowhere 
else. Young people from the public schools, among 
others, make constant use of the library books and 
material. The Wadsworth-Longfellow mansion is 
more than self-sustaining, due very much to kindly 
volunteer assistance, and the surplus there obtained 
goes to help out the other slender income. Men- 
tion is particularly due to the efifiicient and courte- 
ous attendants, Miss Evelyn L. Gilmore and Miss 
Ethel T. Hall, who have the immediate and general 
charge of the properties. Their expert knowledge 
and valuable assistance are freely given, and are, in 
fact, indispensable, since the library has no available 
itemized list of its almost innumerable collections 
of books, documents and manuscripts, printed and 
unprinted, and its great assortment of articles kept 
for observations and instruction. 

The record of the accomplishments of the Maine 
Historical Society from the foundation to the pres- 
ent time is impressive. It is, in principal perspec- 
tive, a tale of individual initiative and loyal earnest- 
ness for public service. The work has been done 
with painfully stinted means, and perhaps, unfortu- 
nately, it has been wrought with such modesty and 
absence of ostentation that the general public have 
but little knowledge of the contents of its treasure 
house, or of the unrequited labors of those who have 
assembled here so much of the record of past human 

198 



experience for its present helpful value and for its 
permanent use in illuminating the path of future 
progress. 



199 



^ 




;ii'!!!i!i!!iilii'!iiiiir)i 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




